DigiGirlz gets girls excited for technology

DE PERE, Wis. (April 25, 2019)- Over 50 girls from the fifth and sixth grade at Foxview Intermediate School participated in coding activities through a DigiGirlz event, which is significant because the technology gender gap is widening.

Ella Krebsbach, left, and Gabby Hauser, both sixth-graders at Foxview Intermediate School in De Pere take part in DigiGirlz, part of Microsoft’s TechSpark program, Thursday, April 25. Lee Reinsch Photo

The Press Times covered a story on the DigiGirlz event highlighting the significance of girls pursuing careers in the technology field.

Michelle Schuler, who currently runs the Microsoft TechSpark program in Wisconsin, says that it isn’t hard to get younger girls interested in technology, but as they get older, it is harder to hold their interest.

“We’re losing girls by fifth grade; they start dropping off and getting interested in other things,” Schuler said. “We focus on encouraging them by bringing role models into the schools, and I think it’s really cool that schools now are starting to map out pathways for computer science from the lower grades all the way through graduation.”

The full story shares how the girls are learning about computers and coding because they want to help people solve problems.

The NEW IT Alliance is initiating growth in K-12 technology education through our Northeast Wisconsin Computer Science Advisory Board.

The current landscape for the NEW CS Advisory Board is to identify gaps in IT and solutions to fill those gaps, share our best practices, connect resources to help close those gaps, and to develop a digital ecosystem.

The Advisory Board focuses on digital skills in every classroom, establishing business partners, implementing new curriculum and activities, and it gets the school and community excited to learn about computer science and information technology.