More than 100 girls and their families attended an open house Jan. 22 at UWM’s College of Engineering and Applied Science to hear about the new Girls Who Code club, sponsored by the college.
Response was so enthusiastic that the weekly class – which begins Jan. 29 – was filled to capacity and has a waiting list. The attendees were from the Milwaukee area and from Illinois.
The Friday evening classes will be held on the UWM campus through June 3, taught by Elizabeth Andrews, a UWM graduate student in computer science.
Founded in 2102 by Reshma Saujan, former deputy public advocate for the city of New York, Girls Who Code is a national nonprofit organization in the movement to inspire, educate and equip students in middle school through high school with the computing skills. Through summer immersion programs and clubs, such UWM’s, Girls Who Code aims to close the gender gap in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, known as STEM.
Saujan has said her goal in founding the organization was to empower girls to pursue careers in these fields.
