What a memorable summer it’s been! Earlier this season, Lulus sent sixty girls and nonbinary students to the Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Camp, a two-week program that let these amazing students work with some of the most outstanding leaders in tech and have an awesome time learning how to code.
The two-week program gave each of these students an incredible learning opportunity, and the LuCrew couldn’t be prouder of them!
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What Is Girls Who Code?
Girls Who Code is a nonprofit dedicated to closing the gender gap in computer engineering and programming. They run camps and clubs for girls and nonbinary students in grades 3-12, and their alumni are seven times more likely to major in computer science. Their college and career programs provide support for their students in college and beyond.
Girls Who Code isn’t just about the nuts and bolts of computer science; they provide an important social structure and community for these talented people who may be marginalized by the traditional tech world. Over half of the 450,000 students served by Girls Who Code programs are Black, Latinx, or from low-income households, all historically underrepresented groups in tech. Many of the pressures these students face in tech are social, and Girls Who Code provides a safe space for these students to express themselves.
Stories From The Summer Immersion Program
During the Summer Immersion Program, the students we sponsored got to enjoy learning and networking in an environment that supported the development of friendships and positive attitudes. They got to hear from industry leaders from many of the hottest tech companies.
The Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program has three key components: skills building, networking, and community. The skills-building aspect means that these students spent two weeks learning the basics of coding through real-world, hands-on projects in storytelling, video games, website development, robotics, apps, and more.
The program teaches these students foundational skills in cutting-edge technological areas, giving them a major leg up if they want to continue with tech (as many do). The students learned web development using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, all important programming languages.
In addition to learning how to code, the students go to see how their projects responded to the real world. They got an actual behind-the-scenes glance at the tools and analytics used by our team. This meant that the students got to see real-time traffic to the partner website, as well as Google’s ad profiling, which the students really enjoyed. Getting to see their own Google ad profile was “a blast,” according to the Summer Immersion Program instructors.
Networking is also a major component of the Summer Immersion Program, and both teachers and students had a great time learning from our team. Students had access to LuCrew members with lots of different skills, experiences, and backgrounds– and we weren’t just there to talk about the technical aspects of our jobs. Students also got to ask about our life’s journeys. As one of the Summer Immersion Program teachers put it:
“There were multiple women panelists who talked about the journey that they took to their current position. They provided advice that applied to life in general, not just in the field that they were working in. In short, relatability was not a problem.”
Here’s what one student had to say about their experience:
“It was so insightful and inspiring to hear the stories of successful women. Even if they weren’t in the field that I’m interested in, their advice applied to life in general, which I thought was great.”
Getting to connect provided the students with a unique opportunity to build professional networks at a young age and early stage, and our LuCrew with an opportunity to help impact the next generation of empowered women.
Professional contacts weren’t the only bonds being built at the Summer Immersion Program. Though the program was entirely virtual, there was plenty of time for team-building and relationship development. Tech can really feel like a boy’s club, and that’s one of the reasons that Girls Who Code exists. By providing the supportive framework for friendships and supportive relationships to develop, Girls Who Code’s camps and clubs let girls and nonbinary students from underrepresented communities feel like their needs are being met and that they’re really being seen and heard.
Girls Who Code knows that one of the biggest challenges to closing the gender gap in tech is tech culture. Girls Who Code’s own research shows that 50% of women in tech roles leave them by the age of 35, and senior HR leaders are (at 45%) more than twice as likely as women (at 21%) themselves to say it’s “easy for women to thrive in tech. The supportive environment that Girls Who Code creates sets up their alumni to build strong friendships and advocate for themselves.
Lulus is thrilled that we’ve been able to help inspire the next generation of working women and nonbinary students. We can’t wait to see how they change the world!
How are you celebrating and empowering women? Tell us in the comments–or show us on Instagram @lulus using #lovelulus!
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