Promly founder Jen Libby, and Gen Z intern Christina Kodsi, spent some time this past week chatting with the president of Girls Code It, Jennifer Lew. GirlsCodeIt is a dedicated, Gen-Z female-led nonprofit organization and initiative at the forefront of the fight for gender and education equality. GirlsCodeIt was created with the intention of creating a free and accessible platform for girls to immerse themselves in various coding, STEM, and informational courses. Additionally, GirlsCodeIt hosts sessions geared towards the future, including interview prep and crucial internship knowledge that may be hard to come by elsewhere. Some of their past sessions include content such as utilization of MIT app inventor or Thunkable, to facilitate the creation of a to-do list, Introduction to Java 1. (a popular coding language), and several panel discussions highlighting female-centric companies.

GirlsCodeIt has had students participate as young as 6 years old and as old as 60 years old.  Don’t let the name fool you, GirlsCodeIt is inclusive for all genders and ages, so long as students want to learn and believe in the GirlsCodeIt mission to bring more gender diversity and education equality to STEM.  

‍

Since the inception of this fantastic program, over 160 GirlsCodeIt volunteers have been able to reach more than 82,000 students through social media and their 48+ Video tutorials posted on Youtube. In addition, GirlsCodeIt also runs a blog, highlighting female leaders such as Radia Perlman and Mary Jackson, as well as articles on notable topics related to coding, must-read books about computer science, and much, much more! In their conversation together with Promly, Founder Jennifer Lew touched on current opportunities offered by GirlsCodeIt, such as a hackathon and the introduction of a fundraiser for underprivileged schools and communities. The rousing and informative conversation ranged from the accessibility of STEM and CS knowledge for curious Gen-Z’ers to what it takes to create a program that has evolved to impact the lives of so many young girls.

‍

Follow GirlsCodeIt on instagram: @girlscodeitpv

‍

Should you want to donate to GirlsCodeIt, please visit their website

‍

Check out the GirlsCodeIt Podcast here!

‍

‍

‍

‍