Tech-Girl Monthly: July 2015

Last week, over 500 educators participated in the National Coalition of Girlsâ€™ Schools STEM to STEAM conference where the gender gap issues in STEM were front and center. It started the morning of the first day with Virginia Governor McAuliffe outlining the economic perils of not addressing the underrepresentation of women in STEM fields followed by Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code, giving a no holds bar keynote about the gender gap in tech challenges.

The "change the ratio" messages continued throughout the rest of the conference with a powerful keynote address from a Tech-Girl hero, Marie Klawe and keynote conversation with STEM field leaders Dr. Jacque Fetrow, VP for Academic Affairs, University of Richmond, Dr. Ellen Stofan, Chief Scientist at NASA and Julie Elberfeld, VP Commercial Banking Technology, Capital One about plugging the leaky pipeline.

What was especially gratifying about the conference is that addressing the gender gap in tech is being taken on by a group of educators who have enormous potential to change the ratio because they teach where the girls are - at girls schools. I hope this conference will be a call to action across the educational landscape. Otherwise, as a recent PRI article noted, if current trends continue, â€œwomen will be extinct in the computer science worldâ€. Thatâ€™s not a world I want to live in!

Activities & Events

Live & Local

July 8 - Make It @ the Library at 2:00pm. Kickstart your creativity in this Pop-up MakerSpace that meets on the second Wednesday of the month. July features Makey Makeys. Grades 6-12. Registration recommended. Call 434.979.7151 x4 to sign up.

Summer - Join the Tech-Girls Running Team as we get active while also being part of a great event in our community. Our team will raise funds for breast cancer research, detection, diagnosis and treatment as part of the Charlottesville Women's Four Miler. Join the team & get a free Tech-Girls t-shirt!

Ongoing - Charlottesville Women in Tech Meetup. If you are a mom of a Tech-Girl & want to connect with other female techies or a woman in tech who wants to inspire the next generation, please consider joining us at a monthly meetup. More info.

Ongoing - Girl Develop It Central VA. What better way to inspire your daughter, grand-daughter or niece to learn to code than to learn yourself. Girl Develop It Central VA offers beginner classes in Charlottesville and Harrisonburg for adults.

Ongoing - Tinkersmiths Makerspace hosts a wide range of workshops that are open to a variety of ages and experience levels. Check out their latest meetups.

Summer Camps!

July 6 - 10, 13 - 17 & 20 - 24 - Tech Camp @ STAB. This brand new tech camp experience led by Kim Wilkens, the founder of Tech-Girls, is open to all! 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. Weekly camps are available for rising 2nd thru 12th graders and run from 9am to 4pm. Check out theTop 5 Reasons to Attend Tech Camp @ STAB and then register! (needs-based scholarships are available).

July 6-9 & July 13-16 - CoderDojo at Albemarle County Public Schools. Available activities will include 3D printing, web design and programming. Morning or afternoon sessions are available. Children under 7 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Registration required.

June 15 - August 14 - KidsCollege@PVCC offers a wide variety of week-long project-based STEM and Arts-based classes all summer long. Rising 3rd thru 9th graders. Registration info.

Virtual & Global

Summer 2015 - Girls Make Games has 3-week camps happening all around the country. Be sure to check out the 2014 Grand Prize Winnerâ€™s successful Kickstarter project. Registration and camp location info.

October 9 (deadline) - CyberPatriot, National Youth Cyber Education Program. Middle and high school teams compete in online cyber challenges. More info.

Ongoing - Made with Code for classes & workshops geared toward girls.