By Amelia Naughten, Staff Writer
To start off the new year, Mills’ Girls Who Code (GWC) club launched a program called Finch Robots with Snap! Programming, in which members taught young children elementary age (K-5) how to use “Scratch,” a block-based programming website targeted towards young kids. The program spans over six weeks, where students learn how to execute basic coding actions to move characters on a screen, and eventually, Finch robots. GWC has been looking forward to these classes for a while, especially as this will be a big turning point for the club after emerging from the pandemic.
GWC is an organization that focuses on providing computer science opportunities for anyone who identifies as a female. Historically, women’s voices have been overshadowed or ignored in the tech world, so this club aims to build a safe and inclusive community that empowers women to explore their passion for STEM. In the club, members learn the basics of computer programming, as well as the features of the computer science industry.
President of the club, Hilary Kuang (11), has been a part of GWC since her freshman year. Coding has always held a special place in Kuang’s heart: “After having a small peek at what coding feels like in freshman year, I immediately fell in love…Having the ability to change nothing into something with just a computer and your mind is truly incredible,” she expresses.
Having been an integral member of GWC for the past three years, Kuang has seen the ups and downs of the club. A major time of hardship for clubs at Mills was during the COVID-19 pandemic, and GWC was among one of hardest impacted. “Our club had only 1-2 members that would attend meetings,” Kuang remembers, adding that GWC was even faced with the threat of shutting down due to the poor member turnout. However, Kuang and other members persevered to keep this community alive: “By trying our best to promote and participate in school activities for the whole year, our club finally came to a better position. Now, we have an average of ten members who come to every meeting, and a total of forty students in our discord server.”
Currently, GWC is continuing to branch out with their latest program at the Millbrae Recreation Center. Similar to the hardships faced during the pandemic, the process of getting these classes approved was not easy. Working alongside Kuang, vice president Sarah Lam (11), provided insight into the workings of the program.
“We contacted Millbrae library, the Millbrae Recreation Center, and nearby elementary schools to see who we could partner with for these classes. But the recreation center seemed to be the best fit for what we had planned,” Lam explained. “It was a process with many email chains, meetings, and clarifications regarding what the recreation center could provide and what our GWC board wanted the classes to look like.” Because this was the first outreach program of its kind in three years for GWC, they also faced other challenges such as figuring out how to secure tech inventory and the unknown variable of how the kids would respond to the curriculum.
On January 13th, GWC’s hard work was put into action with more than ten members there to help supervise the 21 attending students! In the class, the students explored Scratch and learned to customize their characters and backgrounds, all the while guided by GWC mentors. Students also began to learn about motion blocks and degrees, ultimately resulting in their characters gliding and turning across their screens.
When asked about her thoughts on the first class, volunteer Angela Yu (9) remarked, “I found that tutoring kids was actually kind of hard when they were so smart that it seemed like they didn’t really need you…but it was fun nonetheless.” On top of that, Yu’s younger siblings were also attendees at the class, and Yu remembers how enthusiastic they were about the program upon returning home. “My sister actually knew some of the material they were teaching, but she still really liked how they taught it and the energy in the class,” Yu shared.
As for the future of this program, Lam explained, “For now, this program is still a pilot and we don’t know how things will go along the road but if everything goes as planned and mirrors our first class, I can see this as a recurring opportunity for GWC!” Having an annual or even semester-based program for members to volunteer in would be a highlight for GWC not only to extend their mission to Millbrae’s youth, but also to help members develop and engage their skills with coding through helping to run classes.
Although the volunteer positions for the recreation center programs are closed, GWC would like to extend a warm invitation out to anyone looking to become a member. Lam concluded, “You can get involved with GWC by attending our club meetings during lunch on Fridays in room 308. Anybody can come- you don’t have to be female, despite the club name,” with Kuang adding, “You can also talk to Ms. Dreyer in room 308 for more information!”
With the recreation center program running smoothly, we can expect a bright future for GWC. We are excited to see what they do next, pioneering the way for Millbrae’s female STEM community.
