Central New York girls as young as eight years old will be gathering Saturday in Syracuse for a first-ever all-girl youth hackathon. ‘CuseGirlHacks is sponsored by AT&T, and aims to bridge the gender gap in the tech industry.
Pamela Puri is founder of Tech4Kidz, one of the partners in the hackathon. Her organization offers technology classes for kids ages 7 to 15, from beginners to advanced designers.
"Attending events like this and having a great time makes them walk away with a really great feeling and think, 'wow, I really enjoyed that. I'd like to do another one of those. Maybe there's a class in high school that offers computer science or web design, and I know a little bit about that.'"
Puri says a big part of these hackathons is providing a safe, fun, relaxing environment for youth to freely express their creativity. Sarhaia Rahim is a 10th grader at Syracuse Academy of Science, where the hackathon will be held. She took part in another AT&T coding camp over the summer.
"We have a class now with computing. And we also have a coding club after school on Thursday, which is amazing. Me and a close friend of mine, she said, 'let's do coding club together.' I was like, 'cool,' and we got another friend involved."
Rahim admits going into this hackathon, some of her coding skills might be a little rusty.
"There's coding blocks, which are like puzzle pieces, and you connect each one. That's basic coding. Then there's the coding you see in movies, the numbers and all those words."
Pam Puri with Tech4Kidz says the girls will be provided a socially relevant topic to work with.
"They will all work in 1 or 2 programs, which are a little bit easier for beginners, then they will present their proejcts. We will guide the theme of it, and we will have mentors walking around, helping facilitate, making sure they're working as a team.
Projects will then be judged and prizes will be awarded. High Schooler Sarhaia Rahim was introduced to coding by her friends and parents, and got her start creating smart phone apps. She hopes to eventually make video games. Her mom, Cjala Surratt, says she’s never hesitated to encourage her daughter’s participation in the tech field.
"For young women to be seen in those spaces, not just to be able to have a skill, but to see your peers in that space is really beneficial. Ultimately, if she doesn't go on to do it, there might be some other young woman who saw her in that space, and be encouraged to stay there as well."
She realizes some parents might be concerned about their child entering a fast-moving field where what they learn now might be obsolete by the time they enter college. The Saturday hackathon is free, and can accommodate 50 girls. Registration is still open at the website Tech4Kidz.net.
