Meet the Girls Who Code
A few weeks ago, the nearly empty halls of FSSA really started to become occupied with students and faculty. As each floor would get more crowded with students, new ideas became prevalent. Advertisements for new clubs and other after school activities flew on the walls of every floor to spread the word. Many of the posters were self-explanatory, but one poster caught the attention of a lot of students: the Girls Who Code Club.
It’s something brand new at FSSA that takes place every Monday after school in the Guidance Suite. The Girls Who Code Club is a club for girls based in computer science where members learn and obtain skills in computer programming, and learn how to apply it using their personal creativity and prior knowledge of computers.
“It’s really interesting, I never knew what it was about. I saw the poster on the wall that said Girls Who Code Club and I was like, what is that,” says senior Hadassah Franca. That was all the curiosity she needed to find out for herself what this club was all about. Two weeks later, Hadassah remains excited to see what the leaders of the Girls Who Code Club have in mind for each meeting.
Most club members here did not join because they want to major in computer science in college or even a pursue it as a career choice, they joined out of pure curiosity and ended up having fun while learning something new.
“What I learned from it so far is computer science is not even all about math, I always thought it was about that and it’s…not,” adds Franca. She goes on to say that so far they have learned how to create objects and shapes on the computer through numbers. Much like tracing something on a piece of paper, their assignment at one club session was to pick any simple shape or animal, and try to create it from scratch using the Computer Programming platform on the Khan Academy website that they previously learned how to use.
The idea for creating the club came from senior dancer Lucie Pierre-Louis who partnered with senior dancer Nataki Purvis to help make that idea a reality. Co-founder Nataki Purvis says even though being the leaders of the club is often stressful for the both of them she really enjoys working side by side with her best friend.
When the co-founders were asked what gave them the idea to start their own club, Lucie said that she had participated in a program a couple of years ago during the summer called Girls Who Code and it really inspired her to share what she most enjoyed about that program.
“We wanted to do something that would impact people, and Lucie told me about Girls Who Code and how it’s beneficial for women getting into the field of engineering and computer science, and we thought it was really cool because not a lot of women are in that field,” says Purvis.
Looking at the progress that the co-founders have made so far, the members of the club really seem to like what they are learning.
Whether you are thinking about pursuing a career in computer science, or you just enjoy exploring different things on the computer, do it at the Girls Who Code Club in the Guidance Suite every Monday at 3:30 pm.
by Samantha Clay ’14