A team of five girls at Bridgewater-Raritan High School revamped the Girls Who Code club to create an impact on the school and community through STEM.
The club is led by Presidents Divyansha Nashine and Nikita Sirandasu, Vice-Presidents Nandini Kuppachi and Anika Seshan and Treasurer Pranita Kundu. It is the local chapter of the international organization of the same name, which serves over 580,000 students and has chapters in every state, Canada, India, the United Kingdom and other countries.
At its core, the club aims to “empower females who want to enter the coding field through providing projects to get involved in.” According to the team, this would solve the issue of women being underrepresented in computer science.
Allison Master, who is an assistant professor of psychological and health and learning sciences at the University of Houston College of Education, shares a statistic about women in the STEM field.
“Only about 20 percent of people who major in computer science are women,” she said.
With more gender equality in the computer science field, the effects will spread to other industries and bolster female equality.
Currently, the club is involved in a project called AI4FinancialGood, which is an international event that different chapters can compete in. The Bridgewater-Raritan branch is planning to develop a finance based chat-bot. All fifteen members of the club plan to contribute to complete the project by its March 1 deadline.
Sophomore Ishika Gupta commented on why the club is important to her.
“Girls Who Code has been an avenue that provides me with organizations through internships and higher-level coding experiences,” she said. “The Girls Who Code Club has given me the opportunity to find such opportunities and better my coding skills.”
Sophomore Nandini Kuppachi recognizes the club’s impact.
“Girls Who Code is an extension of the efforts I have been putting towards female empowerment in STEM, and through being able to join this initiative from the perspective of breaking gender barriers in STEM, I’ve even been able to explore my passion for programming among an inclusive group of women who bring out the best in me,” Kuppachi said.
In the near future, the club plans to further expand and increase its impact, as well as work closely with the Women for STEM organization.
