Batavia Sumlin, Programming Pathway Teacher at Stockbridge High School, spends much of her free time fostering young girls’ desires to learn about technology and is a dedicated volunteer with 100 Girls of Code. 

  “I am all geek. Technology has always been my passion,” said Sumlin. “I’ve been doing events with 100 Girls of Code for about three months and it’s been awesome.”

  The 100 Girls of Code is a non-profit program for girls ages nine to 16 based out of Conyers, Georgia, with participants from all over Metro Atlanta, including McDonough.

  “The mission of 100 Girls of Code is to achieve gender parity in STEM fields by introducing more young women to code and computer engineering at a young age,” said the 100 Girls of Code website.

  For five years, roughly 60 girls have met once a month, for three hour sessions, to learn various topics in the realm of coding, from building their own websites, apps and video games to hacking and learning about science and chemistry.

  “The demand for it is there and we are just trying to meet those demands and make sure these girls are engaged and, hopefully, they will go into this as a career,” said Danithea Ward, chapter organizer for 100 Girls of Code, Conyers. “These girls have been coming because they want to be there. When you deal with students that want to learn, that makes teaching so much easier.”

  Due to the social distancing requirement that has been put in place due to COVID-19, March 28 marked their first virtual workshop.

  “Since we’ve been going through this quarantine, we weren’t able to meet with the girls. It put me into a shock because we are so used to seeing them every month. We never cancel,” said Ward. “We were trying to figure out a way to get this done [virtually].”

  With the use of Zoom, Ward, along with volunteer instructors Beckie Fischer and Sumlin, were able to host an Intro to Physical Computing class online and spent an hour teaching the students how to code a rock, paper, scissors game using BBC Micro:Bit.

  “I was teaching the girls how to do the code on the screen and then showing them what the code would look like on an actual device,” said Sumlin. “They didn’t have devices. They were just coding online and they were like ‘Oh my gosh! What do we need to buy? How much is a kit?’and I was just kind of flabbergasted.” 

  Sumlin emphasizes the use of technological devices in teaching, whenever possible, to foster interest in the field.

  “When you find a group of students, even in my Stockbridge High classroom, that are truly passionate about learning technology and seeing how it can open up the doors in so many ways, you kind of hitch yourself to it,” agreed Sumlin. “Having devices, that’s how they get attached to it. When I have my robot walking down the hallway at Stockbridge and have my little Sphero robots out, kids say ‘I want to be in that class.’”

  The importance of this program is significant, as both Sumlin and Ward acknowledge lack of female representation within the IT industry. 

  “In all four of my classes at Stockbridge High, I have a total of 15 girls and the rest are boys. I don’t think the girls realize what this is all about. The girls don’t see a place for themselves in this industry,” said Sumlin. “In talking with the programming lead for Henry County, we are really going to try and get out there and get girls actively involved because we are the minority in this industry, whether it is programming, game design, web design, or graphic design.” 

  In an attempt to bridge the gender gap, the program takes field trips to organizations such as NCR to learn about data science and to Axis Replay to learn about eSports.

  “The girls need to see what they’ve actually learned and how they can actually have this as a career and see their faces in that particular workplace,” said Ward. “We have to close this gender gap. When we are exposing them to these different aspects of technology and programming at this particular age, we are setting a foundation in the hopes that they go into this as a career.”

  Ward hopes that in-person meetings will resume as soon as it is safe to do so, but plans to continue to provide lessons to the girls virtually for the time being.

  For more information about 100 Girls of Code, visit www.100girlsofcode.com/conyers-ga.html.