Girls Who Code, front row from left: Deklyn Barth, Aaliyah Espinoza, Aurora LaTraille, Hayley Huffman and Jade Hovland. Back row from left, Alaina Buckanaga, Katelyn Melzer, Haylee Clark and Abigail Rutkowski. Not pictured, Natalie Gerner.
Girls Who Code, front row from left: Deklyn Barth, Aaliyah Espinoza, Aurora LaTraille, Hayley Huffman and Jade Hovland. Back row from left, Alaina Buckanaga, Katelyn Melzer, Haylee Clark and Abigail Rutkowski. Not pictured, Natalie Gerner.
Empowering women means equal representation, and in an evolving technological landscape, that includes behind screens.
The Zonta Club of Breckenridge-Wahpeton’s mission is to advance the status of women worldwide through service and advocacy. So when Zonta member and Wahpeton Elementary Instructional Coach Beth Higdem brought the idea of starting a coding program for young girls to the group, everyone was on board, Zonta member Heather Weber said.
“The club wanted to branch out,” Weber said.
Higdem found Girls Who Code, a free, nationwide program “on a mission to close the gender gap in technology and to change the image of what a programmer looks like and does.” Higdem and Weber were given permission to trial the program at Wahpeton Elementary School. They decided to start with a six-week course held after school and set the sign-up limit to 20.
Twelve girls ranging from second to fifth grade registered for the program. Now, as the course nears its end, the girls will each present their projects beginning at 3:15 p.m. Monday, Dec. 6 before graduating from the program in the Wahpeton Elementary School library. They are encouraged to bring a special woman in their lives, whether that be a mother, grandmother, aunt, friend or sister.
The graduation ceremony coincides with Girls in ICT (Information Communication Technology) Day. Wahpeton Elementary School will be doing an Hour of Code to recognize the initiative.
Each week, the girls have been meeting in the library. Zonta Club provides a snack, and two members are typically present for each meeting. The girls begin with team-building activities before focusing on their laptops to code, Weber said. At the end of their lessons, they present their work to the rest of the students.
“Just seeing the confidence that these girls have gained from just having to get up in front of the other students is wonderful. Now, there’s no shyness. That’s my favorite part, that self confidence that they’re building within themselves,” Weber said.
The first week, the girls started with the basics of coding, learning how to animate their names. They then graduated to coding a knock-knock joke, then a dance party and game, with each lesson more intricate than the last.
“The fifth grade students, they’ve had a little bit of coding in school already. They’re much more comfortable with things, so they just jump in and help the younger girls that have not done anything with coding before,” Weber said.
Zonta member Jodi Beyer attended a Monday, Nov. 22 meeting to see the girls’ progress. Beyer said she was happy to see the youth, who were previously strangers, working together and getting along.
“I was impressed at how young they are and they picked it up so fast,” Beyer said. “I liked how they helped each other, too. It’s nice that girls are learning this because that field is expanding.”
Zonta members already have ideas on how they want to expand the program. Weber said the students picked up on their lessons faster than expected, so in the next course, they may try to partner with local industries to give the girls a taste of what they’re learning in the real world. They also plan to expand to other schools and may involve high school girls who are looking for volunteer opportunities to help oversee the program.
“We do a lot with the crisis centers as far as preventing violence against women, whereas this is a positive project. It’s a different kind of project. It seems like all the gals are excited to be a part of something new,” Beyer said of Zonta.
