Giving girls the code to success

Last year, my high school librarians and I conducted a week long hack-athon/code-athon called Warrior Code. Though the event did not garner as many students as we hoped, it did make a lasting impact.

One student, our only girl participant, stopped us afterward and asked if we would sponsor her in starting a Westwood chapter of Girls Who Code. At the time, we had little vision of what it would turn out to be, but we gladly said yes.

Over four months later, we are about to host our first meeting with the Westwood Girls Who Code. Our one girl entrepreneur found three other girls as passionate as she was and, together, they found four volunteer instructors, and one more sponsor. They also took initiative and contacted the main chapter of Girls Who Code.

Last Friday, the girls took to the Fish Bowl, our high school's freshmen club orientation. After the short orientation, they already had over 50 freshmen girls signed up to become part of this inaugural program of girls.

Next week, we will begin with no other goals besides learning, growing, and sharing. Stay tuned for our progress with the club...and the progress in creating a new generation of girl leaders, entrepreneurs, inventors, innovators, and helpers.

You can find the girls and their journey on their twitter account @westwoodgwcr

Other organizations to follow include:

• Girl Develop It
• Texas Girls Collaborative Project
• So She Did
• UT - WEP
• Girl Start
• Made With Code
• Girls Pushing Girls to Code
• Girls Who Code - National
• Black Girls Code
• Code.org
• Coder Dojo

And, follow up your reading with an article from the New York Times on one woman's personal journey to get more girls into coding. 

Why do you think it is or isn't essential to get girls into coding?

For me, it's not a matter of coding, but a matter of innovating and leadership. Coding is not just an area that is underrepresented by females, but it's a way of thought - one of trial and error - that is essential to all students, not just girls. However, (here's where girls are even more needed) the pool of CS and other coding-related careers is missing a whole line of thought. Watching my girl and boy students interact, I know that their decision-making and what they bring to a group is very unique. But, when I think about a whole field devoid of any substantial "girl thought," I know it is essential. As with any career, a balance of thought and group think is necessary.

What do you think?

Giving the school year a Google Kick!

We are starting the final stages of year two of the Google Ninja Academy. However, as we progress further, we notice that we need more teacher and student voice. So, if you would like to present in-person or virtually at our second annual Google Ninja Academy, we highly encourage you to apply! We want to spotlight student groups and bring back PD to the hands of educators and students - so tell us what you want to explore!

Re-thinking High School

I'll be the first to admit that I was the epitome of the overachieving student. My senior year of high school consisted of eight Advanced Placement classes and one test after the next. In fact, my high school career was a blur of tests, grades, tests, and grades. Success was defined to me as making the grades, making the highest standardized test scores, and getting into the best schools.

But hindsight is 20-20. Now that I am 12 years removed from high school, I feel I was misled. I went to a top-ranked high school and our counselors steered everyone - including my brother whose interest centered around auto-mechanics - to four-year universities. I never thought to question the advice I was given. So, I spent my high school and undergraduate years working on the grade.

I was fortunate enough to have teachers and parents that instilled a love of learning in me. However, others were not as lucky as me. I was steered down a path to a four-year university and I don't regret going to the school. But, I also did not have to "foot the bill" for my B.A. Degree. It was not until I hit graduate school that I realized how astronomic the cost of secondary education was to students.

At high schools, we continue to steer students down the four-year college path, but are we setting them up for failure? My brother - fortunately our parents did not take the counselor's advice for a four-year college - spent one year in a junior college and decided to move onto trade school. Now, he is a manager of his own autoshop. Is he successful? Yes. If he had gone to a four-year university, would he have been as successful? I don't know. When you take into consideration the astronomical cost of attending school, the loans, and the lack of money some careers generate, you are forced to decide: is a four-year school worth my time?

So, I ask you: how can we change this? Why do high schools continue to assume four-year colleges are the best choice for students? Are we setting them up for financial failure? Many of my friends - who are all ten years removed from college - are still paying for college. So, financially - has college  been worthwhile? Sadly, the answer is no. With online courses, certifications, and a global society, why do four-year colleges have to be the most accepted form of education? How can we change this?

I'm now back working at a high school similar to the one I graduated from and I see the same students and the same pressures placed on students. How can we change this? The focus needs to be removed from getting into that school - which, thereby places the importance of learning on grades - and rather how to find that thing that makes you innovative. Do we want students with high grades or students who innovate? I'm finding the terms to not always be one-in-the-same.

As I prepare for this year with grade-focused students, I have decided to create a tech program that puts students in the teachers' seats and teachers' in the students' chairs. Let students drive education. We say that, but do we actually do that? Aren't we dictating what success is? How can we change our definition of success in schools?