There are hundreds of thousands of STEM jobs, but only a handful of females qualified to fill them. The National Science Board reports women make up only 29% of the science and engineering workforce, and there is evidence the gap is growing.
The Girls Who Code program is trying to break this notion and get more girls interested in computer science and STEM by grooming them from a young age.
At three of JCPS schools, the Girls Who Code Program is an afterschool initiative in partnership with Morgan Stanley running once a week. Currently these are the 3 schools running this program: PS #14, PS #16 and MS #4. Students in grades 3-5 and 6-8 are offered the opportunity to participate with volunteers from Morgan Stanley providing the coding lessons using the GIRLS WHO CODE Platform.
At PS#14, the year's program culminated with demos of projects and awards on Friday, March 15th.
The Girls Who Code program at PS#14 was truly a game changer, providing 20 female students from Grades 3-8 develop coding skills and the program core values. The program was facilitated by Mrs. Kim Malloy-Chapman, who went above and beyond the call of duty in organizing, coordinating, and implementing the program along with the Morgan Stanley Representatives. Ms. Hillary Schafer and Ms. Jennifer Postighone graciously provided the 10 week lessons on coding.
They worked in the “Scratch” coding program
Grades 3-5 final project was “A Dance Routine” using coding techniques and Grades 6-8 created their own Video Game using the SCRATCH platform.
Grades 3-5 final project was “A Dance Routine” using coding techniques and Grades 6-8 created their own Video Game using the SCRATCH platform.
Special thanks to Dr. Norma Fernandez, Superintendent of JCPS, Ms. Ann Beirne, Executive Assistant to the Superintendent of JCPS, Mrs. Sharon Abbruscato, PS #14 Principal, and Ms. Tynetta Harris, PS #14 Assistant Principal.