Ayna Agarwal and Ellora Israni, Stanford University computer science students who refer to themselves as “good girls gone geek,” are the founders of she++.
She++ is a catchy title, exciting challenge, and clever ideas for engaging more women in CS. On the website (http://sheplusplus.stanford.edu) you will find information about an upcoming second conference, several interesting videos, several links to classroom resources, news of a recently released documentary and — most interesting to me — opportunities for one-on-one mentorships between high school girls and undergraduates, graduate students, and recent graduates majoring in CS or related technical fields. According to Ayna and Ellora in the “Word from the Founders” video, role models were the keys to their transformation into ‘femgineers.’ Perhaps some of your students who would value this opportunity; maybe some of your former students would be perfect mentors.
Shee++: the Documentary, with inspirational pieces on Silicon Valley’s unsung heroes, was written and directed by Ayna and Ellora. The Documentary “encourages the future CEOs, the innovative engineers, the techies and the fuzzies, the sisters, cousins, and daughters, to break away from the stereotype into a revolutionary field. As technology is becoming increasingly ubiquitous, all demographics must harness new ideas to transform and empower technology.” They invite girls to think of what more ‘femgineers’ could do. Watch the documentary trailer; Jocelyn Goldfein, Director of Engineering, Facebook, cites the numbers that reflect a dire need for more computer scientists and an invitation to grab the opportunity for a “Rosie the Riveter” moment.
Pat Phillips
Editor, CSTA Voice