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Tech-Girl Monthly: April 2016

Expand Your Horizons


April 28 is International Girls in ICT Day. The goal of this day is “to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider careers in the growing field of information and communication technologies (ICTs).” The ongoing theme for this day has been expanding horizons, changing attitudes. It’s a very succinct way of capturing the challenges of addressing gender equity in tech because it requires both organizations creating opportunities and individuals making a choice.

An area where there has been a lot of growth in opportunity is summer tech camps, like Black Girls Code, Girls Who Code, TechGirlz (Philly-based) and CyberJutsu Girls Academy (DC-based) just to name a few. This is actually an important piece of solving the gender ratio puzzle because as Cheryl Sylvester writes, “more girls enjoying tech summer camps will equal more women in tech companies down the road!”

At Tech-Girls, we excited to be working with amazing partners this summer to offer:
  • The Art of Code: Tech-Girls Experience at STAB. This experience provides an opportunity for middle school girls to get hands-on with coding through art. Campers will bring their art to life as they express their creativity through code. Paint a masterpiece, create a symphony of sound, animate an avatar, and so much more!
  • Bio-Med Tech-Girls in collaboration with the UVa Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This year the experience will be led by a team of 3 BME undergraduates working with the UVA Children’s Hospital to improve the mobility and offer tools for the socialization of children with complex medical conditions. This partnership will offer an amazing opportunity for High Schoolers to work with some of the top pediatricians at the University Hospital. 
Check out these resources on making the choice for tech camp:

Spotlight: Ingrid Hu Dahl


Each month we spotlight a woman or girl in tech who inspires us. This month we are highlighting Ingrid Hu Dahl. Ingrid is the Senior Director of Education at BAVC, a tech nonprofit and media lab in San Francisco. She creates fellowship programs for emerging female professionals (18-26). Ingrid believes in empowering young women through leadership development and exposing them to strategies for success in their career advancement.
What do you remember about your first coding experience?
My first coding experience was a workshop at BAVC in HTML/CSS followed by a Webmaker workshop led by Mozilla. I loved the analogy of code being the skeleton of a human being and design being the tissue/skin that we see.

Why is it important to get more girls and women interested in technology?
If technology is one way to make social impact and invent products, stories and messages to the world at large, we need girls and women to participate and produce content rather than simply consume said media/content. Having a diverse group of producers/creators helps make sure we don't leave out the many unique approaches to invention and design.

Read more.

Activities & Events

Live & Local

  • April 14 - Tom Tom Youth Summit. Take charge of your education. Inspire and be inspired. Join hundreds of other creative problem solvers at this student planned and student led Summit. More info & RSVP.
  • April 16 & 17 - USA Science & Engineering Festival (Washington DC). This is a great experience for the whole family - tons of hands-on activities and the opportunity to meet your favorite STEM rock star plus it's all free! More info.
  • April 17 - UVA Ladies in the Lab. Middle and high school girls, you don’t want to miss this interactive showcase of women in STEM hosted by female engineers from UVA and beyond! Registration info.
  • April 29 - Women’s Science, Technology, Engineering & Math Forum. Battelle invites 6th thru 11th grade students to the 2016 Women’s STEM Forum. This forum will include panel discussions, a keynote speaker and getting connected to local mentors through speed mentoring. To RSVP or for more information, please contact Heather Arquitt (arquitth@battelle.org) 434-951-2142.
  • April 30 - Girls' Geek Day. Crozet Elementary School (9am to noon). This event is open to all ages, but if you are a 3rd grader or younger, please plan on bringing one of your parents too. Registration required.
  • May 11 - Make It @ the Library: Tape, Tech, & T-shirts (4pm). Create projects with Duck and washi tape, play with tech toys, decorate a T-shirt, or do all three. Ages 10-15. Registration recommended. Call 434.979.7151 x 4 to sign up.
  • May 15 (deadline) - Bio-Med Tech-Girls is coming the week of August 8! This program is open to female students who are currently in 9th, 10th or 11th grade. Space is limited and you must apply in order to be considered. Apply now.

Virtual & Global

  • April 15 (deadline) - ProjectCSGirls is a computer science competition for middle school girls. Create something with tech that can help solve an imminent social problem. More info.
  • April 21 (deadline) - Technovation Challenge. Become a technology entrepreneur and develop a mobile app prototype that solves a real world problem in your local community. Work in teams of up to 5 girls to research, design & build a mobile app. More info.

Summer Camps!

  • Tech Camp @ STAB. No sitting through boring lectures here, you'll get hands-on with tech from day one. Create electronic cards, light up your clothes, make an app, design a game, code a song, mod Minecraft - the possibilities truly are endless at Tech Camp @ STAB. Be sure to check out the expanded offerings this summer including the CS Academy and Art of Code for Tech-Girls! Weekly camps are available for rising 2nd thru 12th graders and run from 9am to 4pm. Registration info (scholarships available).
  • KidsCollege@PVCC STEM & Arts Academies offers a wide variety of week-long project-based STEM and Arts-based classes all summer long. Rising 3rd thru 9th graders. Half or full day options. Registration info (scholarships available).
  • Synthetic Biology Summer Camp offers the opportunity to learn about the evolution of biotechnology while exploring the fundamentals of biology and constructing genetic circuits. Registration info.
  • Light House Studio Summer Camp offers a variety of tech-related summer camps including animation, visual affects, music video & film production. Registration info (scholarships available).
  • iD Tech Camps at UVA offers co-ed camps for ages 7-17. Learn code, game design, app development, web design, film, photography, and more. Registration info.

Get Involved!

Are you ready to become a mentor or sponsor a Tech-Girl event? Can you help us get the word out? However you would like to get involved, we need you! 
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2016 Tech-Girls, This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
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