COLUMNISTS

Pries: Future is here with Girls Who Code

Kim Pries
Guest columnist

Across the internet, Oct. 21, 2015, was heralded as “Back to the Future Day,” the day that Marty McFly time-traveled forward to at the end of the famous 1985 movie.

As we now know, Hollywood got some things wrong – kids of all ages, and even this adult, would dearly love a ride on that hoverboard.

Since entering the workforce as an engineer back in that magical year of 1985, I've been fortunate to have had a front-row seat to the technological changes that brought us into the age of information and connection. The video-conference setup Marty saw pales next to FaceTime or Skype, and while our cars may not process compost, they can park and drive themselves.

Unfortunately, there is one aspect of my profession that has unconscionably moved backward over the past 30 years.

The year that Marty launched into the future, 37 percent of computer science graduates were women. Today, women represent just 18 percent of all computer science graduates.

The numbers are especially troubling for minority women. Fewer than 5 percent of computer science graduates are Hispanic or African-American women.

So how do we raise the number of female programmers to past levels? By looking to the future – our future workforce.

Girls Who Code coming to El Paso

This year, thanks to the support of the Council on

Regional Economic Expansion and Economic Development and Chairman Richard A. Castro, the Ysleta Independent School district is launching a local chapter of Girls Who Code, a national program designed to reach girls in middle and high school and cultivate their interest in computers, science and technology.

It is my honor to run the club that meets at Parkland High School every Monday and Wednesday afternoon. Come by and you will see about a dozen high school and middle school girls gathered around computers having fun while learning.

One week we may be learning how to program our own version of Flappy Bird; another week, the girls will work hands-on with the programming tool Scratch to design their own projects, be it a puzzle or an interactive greeting card.

CREEED recognized that this type of programming could give our girls support during key developmental years and help set our club members on a path toward pursuing STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) courses in college and making it their careers.

Gender and social dynamics that turn girls away from STEM subjects have been reported on often, but I want to focus on the positive: there is tremendous untapped potential.

Studies show that 74 percent of middle school girls express an interest in STEM subjects, but by the time they are selecting a college major, fewer than half of 1 percent of them will choose to pursue a computer science degree.

We must provide support for our girls so that they can pursue their interests with confidence.

CREEED is looking toward the future to make sure we are fostering our local talent to fill the jobs of tomorrow. By partnering with Girls Who Code, we have a chance to change the future and increase the sophistication of our local workforce, fill unmet hiring needs, and give our daughters lifelong, valuable skills.

But don’t tell the girls in my club that quite yet. They’re too busy having fun.

Kim Pries is a teacher at Parkland High School.