June 26, 2012
On July 9, a group of high school girls in New York City will begin a very different type of summer school.
They are the first class of Girls Who Code, a new 8-week program to educate girls in technology and (ultimately) help close the gender gap in tech jobs. The girls will learn web design, robotics, and mobile development; take field trips to visit Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare; and get mentored by female entrepreneurs.
“Mentorship is the key to getting more girls excited about math and science,” said Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani, NYC’s former deputy public advocate, in a TEDx presentation. “They have to touch, feel, and see women who look like them so they can actually believe that they can.”
Girls Who Code was founded with the support of Twitter, GE, Google, and eBay. It will be launching in other cities in 2013.
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