Club Spotlight: Girls Who Code
Phillips Exeter’s branch of Girls Who Code (GWC) was organized during the first week of the 2017-2018 school year by uppers Nasa Mbanugo and Lauren Leatham. So far, the club has worked on creating websites and text adventure games using the coding language Python. The club was formed as an in-school extension of the summer immersion program of the same name. The nonprofit encourages young women who have taken its courses during the summer to continue what they learned, and start a new club in their schools once the academic year begins. In addition, GWC sends the leaders of the in-school branches a curriculum to follow, complete with lesson plans, PDFs, example codes and PowerPoints.
Both Mbanugo and Leatham attended the summer program this past summer. The non-profit, founded by American lawyer Reshma Saujani, has eighty different locations across the US and each is a sub-branch of various companies. For example, Mbanugo completed the program at General Electric (GE), and Leatham completed it at Warner Brothers.
The program is seven weeks long in total. “It is enough to dip your foot in the water,” Mbanugo said. The program covers six different coding languages, as well as lessons on cyber security and robotics. “They want you to be able to completely learn the language by yourself. They give you the tools to start, and you have to have the incentive to finish.” Mbanugo explained. In keeping with GWC’s mission to give young women the opportunity to pursue a future in a male-dominated field, enrollees are connected with a female mentor. Mbanugo’s mentor, who was connected to GE through her time at Georgia Tech, was integral to Mbanugo’s development as a programmer. “She would just give me the best advice. From assisting with code and language understanding to organization, she was very committed to providing aid when needed,” Mbanugo said. In addition, Mbanugo’s mentor connected her to the Vice President of GE and other people in the field, and created a portfolio showcasing Mbanugo’s prior coding experience. “She helped me establish myself as a programmer. She also helped me create a resume that broadcasted my coding repertoire,” Mbanugo added.
This is the kind of support Mbanugo and Leatham hope to foster in PEA’s club. Being open to all Exonians, not just self-identified girls, the club welcomes people of all levels of computer science as well.
Both leaders of Exeter’s GWC chapter have several years of experience under their belts. Leatham began to code when she first came to Exeter officially, taking a web development computer science class. However, Leatham’s mother is a software engineer, and that played a large influence in her decision to pursue computer science. “I wouldn’t have thought of coding as something that I could do if my mom hadn’t taught me how to make websites, etc.,” Leatham said. Mbanugo first learned code in sixth grade in school in her computers class. There, she designed websites, before learning JavaScript at Exeter.
Upper Bella Hillman mentioned her initial reluctance with joining the club. However, upon becoming a member of the group, she discovered a latent interest in the STEM fields, specifically coding. “Going into the club, I wasn’t really interested in coding, but in just the few meetings we’ve had so far, I’ve found that it is actually an activity I really enjoy participating in,” she said. She also hopes that clubs like GWC will inspire more young women to participate in STEM-based activities. “I think that not many girls are involved in STEM clubs like this, and the club was a good way to get more girls interested in STEM,” Hillman commented.
On the other hand, lower Helena Chen has been an avid coder for quite a while now. She also acknowledged the lack of female presence in the STEM fields. “Programming is definitely a male dominated field in the communities I’ve been in, and that creates a very intimidating environment for girls that want to and like to code,” she said. “A club like this creates a comfortable learning environment for girls, which many STEM communities lack.” She explained the necessity of having a nurturing atmosphere for women to explore coding. “I think it’s very important to create a comfortable environment for girls to explore their interests in this field, and develop them,” Chen said.
Mbanugo and Leatham have been successful in providing a helpful environment to dabble and expand interests in the programming field. “I like that we’re patient with each other. If someone is having problems with the code or software, the co-heads are very helpful, and will try their best to fix the problems,” Chen said. Hillman agreed, expressing her hope to gain a deeper understanding of the STEM field. “We all work together and help each other out even though we each work individually,” she said. “I have learned so much from this club and think that it’s helped me widen my interests, and has possibly opened the door for something new that I can pursue.”