~~~ Guest post by Darcie Mayne ~~~
Last month, we hosted more than 200 seventh and eighth grade girls from across the state at our Dell EMC office in Draper. We were joined by
Reshma Saujani, CEO of
Girls Who Code, Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox, and Julie Simmons of
Women Tech Council to celebrate the launch of the Girls Who Code Club network in Utah.
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Vance Checketts, Reshma Saujani, Julie Simmons, Spencer Cox |
Adobe and Microsoft, along with the
Utah STEM Action Center, are supporting the commitment to create nearly 50 new clubs launching in Utah throughout the year. This Fall groups will begin meeting in Utah schools, community centers libraries and company offices to inspire middle- and high-school-age girls to learn computer coding. A key part of the Dell EMC effort includes leveraging our Women In Action Employee Resource Group. They are a powerful force for good that extends well beyond the 100's here in Utah.
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200+ girls excited about Girls Who Code |
The goal is to raise awareness and visibility of technology among young women and help shatter the perception that the tech industry is only for males. Reshma implored the students not to buy into stereotypes that girls are not suited to math, science and computing. She said,
"I spend my life trying to harass girls like you and make you want to code. You're being duped by a culture that tells you this subject is not for you."
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Workshop: Using technology to solve world problems |
Learning coding skills is a "great equalizer" in society. Students from diverse backgrounds are all sitting at the same starting line. One girl said, "I wasn't really interested before, but now I am. Boys get more chances than girls." Our Utah girls are ready to solve big problems using technology.
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Lt Gov. Spencer Cox takes a selfie with the girls |
We have an incredible opportunity to drive human progress through technology. We can't realize the full potential without our girls. More information about the program is available on the
STEM Action Center website and the
Girls Who Code website. See
previous announcements from Dell on our website.