Vision

Our vision for Canada is… a country where women have equal work opportunities as men. Women are under represented in the field of computer science. At our high school, we currently have an imbalance in the genders in the computer science courses. We would like to see female and male students try computer science and pursue careers in computer related fields in equal numbers.

Action

The first Girls Can Code day was organized by three grade 12 female students. They invited 24 female students from the two local middle schools to come to the high school for an introductory day of coding. They were assisted by 5 other grade 12 female students who shared their passion for computer science. The younger students had a full day of coding activities that were planned and presented by their older peers.

Reflection & Celebration

We had a fantastic day. The younger students were full of energy and enthusiasm and they felt great satisfaction in attending an all female event. We realized at the end of the day that we had made a big mistake in involving only grade 12 students as we want to make this an annual event. We held a second Girls Can Code day to train the future trainers. We invited students from the other local high schools so that they can then offer this day to their own middle school students. We had three schools involved in the second Girls Can Code day.