This week the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science hosted a school holiday Coding Camp for girls, run by social enterprise Code Like a Girl (CLG).
The workshop was a three day program for young women aged 8-11. The camps are designed to provide girls with a nurturing environment, where they can explore coding at their own pace.
Breaking down barriers for women and girls to participate in STEM is a core goal of the CLG philosophy, and aligned with our College commitment to promote diversity in STEM.
The theme of the camp was centred on the intersection between technology and music, with the students creating their own song using code.
“We’ve made some virtual music, and created a code where it’s drawing a landscape, and we could change that code to be whatever we want” said one of the participants, Emily.
When asked if they wanted to continue coding after the workshop, this reporter was met with an enthusiastic chorus of ‘yes!’.
Some participants had even more concrete plans for their career. “I’ve already made my future plans, I’m going to be a video game designer or a Youtuber” said Rosie
Mahika, one of the group’s facilitators said she got involved because she was passionate about encouraging women in STEM, “I wanted to do this workshop is because when I was in school I didn’t know the options and opportunities that existed”.
“The point is to introduce them to coding, and to STEM in general, we try to show them a range of stuff over the three days so they can figure out what they’re interested in and go pursue it later.”
The College is proud to support initiatives like Code Like a Girl, that encourage and inspire diversity in technology.
By Ellen Parsons