THE STORY BEHIND GIRLS CODE INC.

All throughout my life I have been extremely interested in computer science, but growing up my family and I struggled to find an affordable and engaging curriculum. So throughout middle school I taught myself how to code through textbooks and online tutorials and classes. When high school came around I was involved in as many computer science activities that were available to me. I had always heard about the gender gap in the technology field but it had never impacted me so it almost seemed like a far off myth. During my sophomore year, I took the AP Computer Science A course at my school and there was a total of 4 girls, including myself. Additionally, as I took a more prominent role in the competitive programming team and the robotics team, I realized that the gender gap was real and caused an interesting environment that was completely new to me. It was odd to see such a disparity in these activities and classes to me. I didn't understand why this was happening. As I did more research I recognized that this issue is one that needs to be solved. Many girls do not go into computer science because of the environment or that the way coding is taught isn't tailored to keep girls interested. I decided that I wanted to help solve this issue by sharing my coding knowledge and empowering young girls that they can do anything that they want to. This organization's initiative is not only to teach girls how to code, but to give them the confidence to pursue all of their passions regardless if they relate to STEM or not. Girls Code Inc. is showing girls how to use the skills and talents that they already have to their fullest potential and we hope you'll join us to make a change in our community and the world.

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- Haley Sanchez, Founder of Girls Code Inc.