2015 #include Fellows

ALEXANDRA FISHER

Alexandra Fisher is a senior at Carondelet High School in Concord, California. Outside of school and programming, she enjoys running on her high school track team and playing piano. Next year, she will attend Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and will study computer science. She first became interested in computer science her junior year, after participating in the Technovation Challenge, an all girls app building competition.

For her initiative, Alexandra started a Girls Who Code at her high school. The club meets weekly to code, and uses online resources like Code Academy and Khan Academy to learn the programming languages CSS, HTML and Javascript. The Girls Who Code club offers some of the only exposure to computer science at Carondelet, and has many underclassmen members who had never coded before joining the club. Alexandra and other club members brought a proposal to the school administration to implement an introductory computer science class into Carondelet’s curriculum. The proposal was approved, and the computer science class will be offered this fall.

AURA BARRERA

Aura Barrera, 17, from Oakland, CA, has attended very diverse public schools all her life, which sparked an interest in social issues and helping others. She then joined Girls Who Code where she had her first exposure to computer science. She attends Oakland Technical High School where she nurtures her interests in the sciences, specifically computer science and biotechnology.

For her #Include Initiative she started and taught a Girls Who Code club at her school as well as created a new website for a local non- profit. At her school, she was able to plan and teach the Girls Who Code curriculum, which covers MIT Scratch and JavaScript, to 15 high school girls over the course of 20 weeks. In addition to the lessons, she has also organized her club’s participation in the Samsung Girls Who Code App challenge, had guest speakers from the tech industry, and a field trip to High School Hacks II. In her community, she worked with Groundwork Richmond, a local non-profit that promotes sustainability in neighborhoods through community service with high school students. She helped the organization revamp their image with a new website that was more accessible to update new content to. The site has launched and the content can be accessed and edited by the staff.

CHRISTINA LI

Christina Li is a high school junior attending the Utica Center for Math, Science, and Technology in Michigan. She is also the proud head programmer of FIRST robotics team #217, the ThunderChickens. After winning the NCWIT (National Center for Women in Information and Technology) Aspirations in Computing award freshman year, she began to see the gender gap in technology. In the summer between her sophomore and junior year, Christina attended Stanford University's Summer College program, visited tech companies in the Bay Area, and won the Hero Hacks hackathon in San Francisco.

In all of these places, she saw firsthand the low numbers of fellow women in technology, and began to plan "Hello World", a day camp for middle school girls to learn about computer science. During the five days of spring break, about 30 local girls will learn topics in game design, app development, web design, and robotics with drag-and-drop programming. In addition, female industry professionals from companies like Google, SpaceX, and Microsoft will be discussing their experiences with the young girls. On the final day, the group will travel to Ann Arbor to tour Google and the University of Michigan's Engineering campus to see the future of computer science.

CINDY WONGPANICH

Cindy is a high school sophomore in the Bay Area. Her curiosity in technology sparked in middle school when started tinkering with graphic design and personal websites. Since then, she has shared her passion for technology and coding with children in Thailand, striving not only to break the language barrier, but the learning barrier as well. In addition to coding, she enjoys graphic design, photography, baking, and playing the piano. In the future, Cindy hopes that, through technology, she can promote change and empower others to delve into the field of technology.

For her initiative, Cindy founded Code Thailand, an organization aimed at introducing computer programming to elementary school students in Thailand. Through video-conferences, web tutorials, and online coding courses, Tanaporn St. Mary-Anne School has been able to explore with basic principles of coding and learn about growing opportunities in the tech world. Code Thailand’s goal is to bridge the disparity in opportunity and brighten these children’s futures with the inspiring power of code.

DELANEY RUA

Delaney Rua is 16 years old and currently a Junior at Eastside High School in Gainesville, FL. This year she has been a member of both the lacrosse and cross-country teams, as well as an active member of Student Government and other various clubs around school. Her interest in both computers and technology in general began at an early age, although my hobbies today are much more varied. She enjoys any creative or artistic pursuit, from drawing and painting to thrift shopping or collecting records, but at the end of the day she still always comes back to the tech world.

Her she++ #include initiative stemmed from this personal interest in technology, in that she wanted to foster this passion in other girls within her community. She organized a Women in Technology Speaker Series, and advertised to middle and high school aged girls within her town to listen to female tech business owners and startup entrepreneurs from the community. After an initial success with local medical technology CEO Priya Rudradas, more spring Women in Technology keynote speakers have been scheduled, in order to provide a wide range of lenses through which the girls can view female influences in the technology world.

FRANCESCA NAREA

Francesca Narea is a junior at Greenwich Academy in Greenwich, CT. She has been interested in Computer Science (CS) since 7th grade when she taught herself Python. Since then, she has taken: Intro to Java, AP Comp Sci, Objective C for iPhone app development through a Stanford accredited study course. Currently, she is taking an Advanced CS course focused on the Stanford Java curriculum with graphics and Android App Development. Additionally, she taught herself HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to develop websites for her school's literary and fashion magazines.

For her initiative, she submitted a proposal to the Greenwich Library to teach an Introductory Java class for teens, who do not have this opportunity at their school. She developed her own course curriculum, including daily handouts with challenge questions and notes as well as a Prezi presentation. She encouraged classroom collaboration. After the 6 classes, she advised students to study Python, Java graphics, Android apps or HTML & CSS for website development. This summer, she will continue teaching this Intro to Java course as well as develop a curriculum for Android apps. When she’s not coding, Francesca runs 5ks, plays classical guitar, reads, writes, skateboards and explores New York City.

HANNAH TIPPERMAN

Hannah Tipperman is a senior at the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. She became interested in technology after attending a robotics workshop for middle-school girls. Along with her fraternal twin sister, Rachael, she formed an all girls FLL team, and her FRC team was on the winning alliance of its division at the World Championships last year. She co-founded Robot Springboard with Rachael as a 501c3 organization dedicated to promoting robotics and computing education in underserved communities. They have held programs in diverse locations, such as Homer, Alaska and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Hannah worked on her #include initiative with her sister, Rachael. Together they planned and implemented two separate robotics and computing programs in Costa Rica. The first was held in the remote rainforest region of Monteverde, where they held a weeklong program at a Friends School for students from 3rd through 12th grade. They had fund raised enough that they were able to provide the school with their own robot kit, laptop and books so that the school could begin a permanent robotics program. They also held workshops, entirely in Spanish in the capital city of San Jose. These were held in conjunction with a local non-profit organization, The Omar Dengo Foundation, as well as The Intel Corporation. Following completion of these programs, volunteers from the Intel Corporation asked for copies of the self-published Spanish robotics workshop Hannah and Rachael created so that it could be used for other courses in Latin America.

HIMA TAMMINEEDI

HPlaying minesweeper, eating apple pie, and building robots are just a few of this young man’s interests. His name is Hima Tammineedi and he has aspirations that will be achieved. After falling in love with engineering during high school, he has decided to study computer science in college and plans on using his skills to help the world. Of special interest to him is the intersection of technology and education, and thus, Hima’s life goal is to create technology that will truly change areas of education everywhere. In fact, this goal led Hima to start Math Game: Epsilon, a computer-based card game that helps students develop their number sense and computational abilities through gamified learning.

This year, Hima and his team of fellow high school students launched a pilot program in their school’s math classes and the feedback they received was phenomenal. Students said they not only enjoyed the competitive nature of the game, but that it also improved their mathematical abilities. This has validated Hima’s vision for the project, and as Epsilon is a work in progress, it will continue to grow - just as Hima has.

HOLLY KOERWER

Holly Koerwer is currently a sophomore at Trinity Hall, an all girls high school in Leonardo, New Jersey. She enjoys acting, drawing, and sailing. It was at Trinity Hall where Holly was first exposed to STEM and computer science. Holly is particularly interested in HTML and CSS and would love to design creative web pages one day. Holly learned about the She++ #include initiative from her engineering teacher and was immediately decided to apply.

For her initiative, Holly created an education program called {Future Can} Code. She thought of this initiative after noticing the extreme need for computer science graduates, but the lack of early exposure to the field. This program targets students from kindergarten to high school by exposing them to computer science. Holly developed {Future Can} Code resource kits for teachers who wish to teach computer science, but are unsure of where to start. These kits included educational websites, apps, programs, and lesson plans. Holly also used her kit when teaching classes at her old grammar school. It is Holly’s hope that as she expands her initiative, in the future everyone will code.

JESSICA OUYANG

Jessica Ouyang is currently a senior at the Texas Academy of Math and Science in Texas. Ever since she discovered HTML in middle school, she has been passionate about web development and making pretty things with code. Aside from pursuing computer science in high school, she has also developed an interest in computational research and data science, and is extremely excited by the applications of computing to both science and everyday life. Away from the keyboard, you can find her watching too many crime shows, rock climbing, and fawning over Apartment Therapy. She also loves to drawing, tech culture, and mangoes.

Next year, you will most likely find her at Stanford or MIT (she’s still deciding!). This past summer, she organized a summer camp to engage girls in computer science. She led a team of over twenty volunteers to host several sessions of camp at her local university for middle-school girls. Over several weeks, more than a hundred girls in the DFW area enrolled in different sessions, completely funded for by sponsorships, donations, and laptops on loan. It was awesome!

JOANNA LUO

Joanna Luo is a high school junior at Miami Lakes Educational Center. She was introduced to computer science through the Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program, where she learned to create Project APE, her first mobile website. This sparked her interest in computer science and since then she’s been searching for new ways to practice her skills.

 

Joanna recognized the lack of female representation in the field of computer science and worked with Michele Wu to launch a Girls Who Code Club at their high school. This allowed her to share her CS experiences with other girls in hopes of empowering them to not only become involved in computer science, but confident in their abilities. But she didn’t want to stop there. Joanna co-launched a Google CS-First Club at her local middle school in hopes to expose computer science to students at a younger age. Now she is teaching them basic video game coding concepts by building fun games through Scratch. In her free time, Joanna likes to watch movies and eat pizza.

 

KATHERINE VAN KIRK

Katherine Van Kirk is a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (Alexandria, VA), and will be attending Stanford next year. For her #include initiative, she created videos featuring her schools’ research labs and co-founded an organization called Inspiring Femgineers. The CS research lab is only 17% female, and this is what initially motivated her to create the videos. Each one showcases a variety of projects and people, and they will hopefully break the labs’ stereotypes. She wants to remove the idea that only “smelly,” antisocial boys participate in the CS research lab.

The second part of her initiative was creating an organization called Inspiring Femgineers; their mission is to host programs and events that inspire young girls to pursue their interests using the STEM fields. They hold programs at the middle and elementary school levels, and the current event we’re planning is a mother-daughter hack day. The theme will be “Coding with Cupcakes.” They hope that by associating coding with cupcakes, programming will not seem “nerdy” or “weird.” They also hope to target young kids in the DC-Metropolitan area who would not otherwise have access to CS resources.

LAURA SIZEMORE

Laura Sizemore currently is a sophomore at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Virginia. She first became interested in technology when she took her first computer class in 7th grade and then taught herself how to code in java script through websites like Khan Academy in 9th grade. She is now taking AP Computer Science at her school and is one of the two officers of the programming club. Some of her other extracurriculars include dancing and participating in the Lake Braddock Color Guard as part of the marching band.

For her #include initiative, Laura began the Student Advisory Committee. The Student Advisory Committee is a sub-committee for the Fairfax County Commission for Women and consists of ten selected high school girls. The committee helps advise the Women’s Commission on how create equal opportunities for girls in the schools. As a committee, their goal is to create more opportunities for girls in STEM in all the schools in Fairfax County Public Schools. As a part of this goal, Laura is creating a girls’ programming club at her school. Also, through the current programming club, she recently led an all- girls team to a programming competition at VCU.

MACKENZIE MCCLUNG

Mackenzie McClung is a junior at Trinity Valley School in Fort Worth, Texas. Besides computer science, her interests include photography, vocal performance and cheer. She is part of Varsity.com’s national teen “Intelligence Team”, the Kimbell Museum Teen Council, a three-time recipient of the Orange Cunningham Leadership Award, have a photography blog called “Cultivation of the Soul,” and has competed at the World Championship in cheerleading. Fun facts about her include being the only student to both stay alive and complete her mission in an international espionage simulation at Cambridge and teaching her cat to sit in Spanish! Mackenzie is ignited by the concept of using one’s unique talents to make a difference.

THer initiative (CS)^2, “Computer Science in Community Service,” fits this completely—a club comprised of students using their unique technological abilities to help with CS needs of their school and communities. Club members had different but valid ideas that link CS to numerous community service needs, thus inspiring our club mission and name, (CS)2. Quickly the club morphed into something much bigger, aimed at supporting each other and working together to make a difference and a wider influence at our school, community and beyond. She is contacting similar schools across the nation to share her club’s model, aspiring to make a wider, exponential impact, true to our name.

MARIELA PIZARRO-SILVA

Mariela Pizarro-Silva is currently a junior at Salinas High School. She serves as Head Commissioner of Charities and Community Service for the Salinas High School Associated Student Body and President of the Salinas Valley Dream Academy. Mariela has attended the Silicon Valley Latino Leadership Summit and Latinas Think Big, through which she has gained an understanding of the need for greater diversity in STEM careers. She is also a member of the Ivy League Project and recently traveled the East Coast visiting university campuses.

Mariela connected Dream Academy with the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) at Stanford University, and this relationship led to SWE hosting Dream Academy for an engineering conference at the University. The Dream Academy has also begun a partnership with Loaves, Fishes, and Computers to help bridge the digital divide in Salinas by making low-cost computers and Internet access available to low-income families.

MARLENI CHAVANA

Although there are many ways to describe Marleni Chavana, the most fitting seems to be “Smarter than your average bear”. As a junior at a magnet school in New Jersey focussing on math and science (healthcare), she is constantly worrying about her grades and all things college related. As any overachieving dramatic teenage girl would, she is constantly challenging herself by creating new life plans for herself in case she fails her physics exam, or as she would say it, ‘Taking one step closer to failing at life’. When she is not checking her college related Google News Instant Alerts, she participates in many clubs, including Science Olympiad and Healthcare Occupations Students of America (H.O.S.A.), is a student teacher at a local Catholic school, and an active volunteer for the Icla da Silva Foundation. She is also an alumna of the 2014 Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program.

Outside of the classroom, Marleni enjoys playing noncompetitive sports, is in love with all things owl, is a voracious reader, and thinks that knitting and extreme couponing should be considered sports. But at the end of the day, she is just like any other girl; laying in bed in her ugly pajamas, eating a tub of ice cream, and obsessively looking for spoilers of new episodes of The Mindy Project.

MICHELE WU

MMichele Wu is a junior at Miami Lakes Educational Center and enjoys biking in her free time. Michele’s love for Computer Science blossomed when she attended the Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program, where she learned how to code and was inspired to become a computer scientist. For her initiative, she collaborated with Joanna Luo to promote technology in their community.

Seeing the underrepresentation of women in STEM, Michele wanted to support the movement of closing the gender gap of women in Computer Science. She sought to empower girls to be interested in technology and co- founded a Girls Who Code Club at her school. She is an advocate for inspiring minorities like herself to become interested in Computer Science. To share her passion for computer science and give back to her community, she started a Google CS-First program at her local middle school, where she teaches underprivileged children about computer science through creating fun video games with Scratch.

MOKSH JAWA

Moksh Jawa is a sophomore at Washington High School in Fremont, CA. He is a big advocate of computer science education and have fallen in love with the subject since first being introduced to it in middle school. Aside from programming, Moksh enjoys playing tennis, DECA, and sleeping.

Moksh's initiative was compromised of two parts. Moksh started a computer science club at his high school. Because his school did not have AP Computer Science, Moksh, who had self-studied the subject, decided to take it upon himself to teach his fellow peers. He held after school club meetings and simulated the environment of a AP class. In doing so, Moksh also created a custom curriculum for APCS. In order to take his curriculum global, Moksh published all of his curriculum and content onto Udemy, an online platform for courses, as a free course called Decoding AP Computer Science A. The course consisted of over 110 lectures and 10.5 hours of content. Within a few weeks of its launch, the course had over 600 students from across the globe sign up!

NIKITA TAKRU

Nikita Takru is a sophomore who attend Pinewood School in Los Altos Hills, CA. She has always loved technology from a young age and has a passion for coding and computers. She is a student ambassador for Girls Who Code, a recipient of the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Bay Area Afilliate Award, and the founder and president of her school’s Technology Club.

For her she++ #include initiative, she founded a program called CodeUCan. CodeUCan programs teach kids ages eight through thirteen how to program in HTML, CSS, and Java. CodeUCan programs have expanded to three libraries in the Bay Area since the program was launched and it has inspired and motivated over a hundred kids to generate an interest in computer science. Nikita plans to expand her program to many more libraries in the coming months and wants to encourage more children to explore the world of programming.

NIVITA ARORA

Nivita Arora was born in India, but she has lived in NYC for most her my life, and is now a senior at Trinity School. She has always loved science and technology, and wants to major in Computer Engineering. She is passionate about how few girls pursue this path, or any engineering major; women hold just nineteen percent of all bachelor’s degrees in engineering. Statistics like these, as well as personal experience of gender bias in STEM, led her to found a community service group called STEM Girls at my school.

Since middle school is often when girls start to lose interest in STEM fields, she initiated a partnership with a nearby middle school, where she helps out in their after school science program. She also hosted the Hour of Code for both their school and her own school. She wants to not only spread awareness about the gender gap, but also get more girls involved in STEM, helping close the gap however she can.

NOEL LIMB

Noel Limb is a sophomore at Los Alamitos High School. She became introduced to the world of technology as an 8th grader, and since then, she has pursued the path of a programmer, learning Java and C++, and attending several camps and classes. When she is not delving into computer science, Noel loves to play the electric cello, dance hip hop, write short stories, work with animals, and create (draw) illustrations. Noel is also involved in her community and school, as she volunteers at a youth shelter and is a member of the Southern California Youth Philharmonic, YMCA Youth and Government of Greater Long Beach, and the International Debate Academy. At school, she leads the Speech and Debate, Robotics, and FBLA teams.

For her #include initiative, Noel started a club called Los Alamitos She++, in affiliation with Stanford She++. The goal of the club is to encourage girls to pursue tech-related careers, show that technology is an important aspect in life that is fun and exciting, and empower women in society as a whole. The club has 30 members, and currently, they have started programming Java. Speakers from SWE UCLA, the Imagine Foundation, and Ms. Woman of Achievement 2015 visited to talk about breaking limits in society as a girl, to encourage everyone. The club also attends various events regarding women rights and issues, and has been working on a video montage fundraiser project. In the community, the club teaches computer science weekly at a local elementary school as well as the WTLC, and is working on a partnership to educate girls in third world countries. The club has been a huge success, as it will be featured in the school newspaper, The Griffin Chronicles, and Noel hopes to bring the club up onto an even higher level.

RACHAEL TIPPERMAN

Rachael Tipperman is a senior at the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. She became interested in computing after co-founding an all girls FLL team with her fraternal twin sister. Besides participating in FIRST robotics she and Hannah co-founded their school’s Vex robotics team and recruited 22 girls to participate; last year, their FRC team was on the winning alliance of their entire division at the World Championships. . Rachael received “Highest Distinction” honors in the NCSS Python coding challenge.

Along with Hannah she co-founded Robot Springboard as a 501c3 organization to help promote STEM education in underserved communities. With her sister Hannah, Rachael planned and implemented two separate programs in Costa Rica. Although they have held programs in diverse locations like Homer Alaska and inner city Philadelphia, they chose Costa Rica to demonstrate that their organization, Robot Springboard, was capable of international outreach efforts and was able to work with local non-profit organizations and multinational corporations. One program was at a local school in the remote rainforest of Monteverde where they ran a weeklong course for students from 4th to 12th grade. The second program was held in the capital city of San Jose, in conjunction with a local non-profit organization, The Omar Dengo Foundation as well as volunteers from the Intel Corporation. These robotics workshops were held entirely in Spanish using a manual that Hannah and Rachael had self- published in Spanish.

RITHIKA KORRAPOLU

Rithika Korrapolu is a junior at Robbinsville High School, NJ. At school, she adores being a competitive athlete and entrepreneur as the Captain of her tennis team, Vice President of UNICEF, and Social Director of her class. At home, she enjoys getting down to old school rap and soul music. However her greatest passion would have to be computer science and more specifically – iPhone app development. Rithika has become an official, self-taught mobile app programmer after releasing a game that can be downloaded in the App Store. She aspires to pursue computer science and entrepreneurship.

For her #include Initiative, Rithika has founded a Girls Who Code (GWC) Club and created a Special Education Outreach program at her high school. GWC is a club that promotes females in computer science and this May, 20 girls with minimal prior programming experience will graduate from her club as masters of Scratch and Processing. The second part of her initiative included utilizing NAO, a humanoid robot, to teach the special needs students at her local middle and elementary schools. Next year, Rithika plans on combining the two parts of her initiative by encouraging her students from GWC to participate in the Special Education program.

SHREYA SHANKAR

Shreya Shankar is a senior at A&M Consolidated High School in College Station, Texas. She loves math, science, and programming and enjoys captaining her school's Science Bowl and Science Olympiad teams. Shreya founded Camp Sci Girl, a free, virtual computer science summer camp for middle school girls around the US and ran its first pilot program in the summer of 2014. She hopes to teach more girls programming this summer through Camp Sci Girl and spark a larger interest in technology in middle school girls.

In addition to running Camp Sci Girl, Shreya is a member of her school's Quiz Bowl team, varsity swim team and varsity orchestra. In her free time, she likes to play piano, try new flavors of ice cream, learn random trivia, and challenge the status quo. Shreya received admission to Stanford through early action and plans to major in computer science.

SONIA SACHAR

Sonia is a junior at Irvington High School in Fremont, California. Participating in FIRST robotic competitions sparked Sonia's passion for engineering and computer science at an early age. To broaden her programming knowledge, Sonia took various college level courses in Java and Mobile App Development. Sonia has developed several mobile apps and has been honored with the Presidential STEM Award. Moreover, Sonia is passionate about leadership and community engagement and firmly believes technology can be used to create greater awareness of teen issues. In her free time, she enjoys playing basketball with her friends, reading books ranging from Sherlock Holmes to Hunger Games, composing a variety of different music from classical to jazz, and volunteering at her local library to help senior citizens with various technological problems.

Sonia is also an avid advocate for a greater number of girls in STEM fields. For her #include initiative she founded the “Girls Tech Club” where she fervently teaches coding and technology to girls in her high school and in the Bay Area. In this club, she advocates for more girls in computer science and engineering fields by leading periodic tutorial sessions to teach girls computer functions and programming skills. She hopes to expand her foundation on a global scale and make huge strides in a greater representation of women in STEM fields.

SOPHIA HU

Sophia Hu is a sophomore at East Brunswick High School in New Jersey. Her passion for computer science was sparked by attending the Program in Algorithmic and Combinatorial Thinking at Princeton University in theoretical computer science. She also conducts outreach for ProjectCSGIRLS, the country’s largest computer science competition for middle school girls. In her free time, Sophia likes to write, play on her school’s Varsity Golf team, and volunteer. In college, Sophia hopes to major in computer science and electrical engineering. One of her goals is to increase female participation in the field of computer science.

For her #include initiative, Sophia organized a computer science club at her middle school. By exposing the club to enlightening presentations by women computer scientists and information technology professionals, students are encouraged to pursue opportunities in computer science. The club also raises awareness about social causes by holding an electronics recycling drive.

SWETHA PRABAKARAN

Swetha is a sophomore at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology(TJHSST). She is an active member of the Model UN Team, Coding Lady Colonials (a club for women in Computing), and her school’s chapter of FBLA. Swetha is also a member of the swim team and has been learning Bharathanatyam, a form of classical South Indian dance, for more than half of her life. Swetha signed up for a Computer Science class her freshman year of high school, which sparked her interest, and she decided to continue with this track for the remainder of high school. Swetha now hopes to work in her school’s Mobile and Web Application Development Laboratory during her senior year and major in CS in college.

For her initiative, Swetha focused on exposing elementary and middle school students to computer science through partnerships with the after school camps teams at these schools. These camps focus on introducing students to CS topics in a fun way that connects these topics to their daily lives. Swetha has already received interest from schools to expand the program to their students next fall, and hopes to expand these camps nationally in the upcoming years.

TIFFANY HSIEH

Tiffany Hsieh is a junior at Johns Creek High School in Johns Creek, Georgia. She was first introduced to programming during her freshman year through her school's robotics club and is currently the programming lead.Tiffany is also the President of her school's Technology Student Association and an NCWIT Aspirations Georgia Affiliate and National Runner Up winner.

For her #include initiative, she founded the Tech Girls Camp, sponsored by the NCWIT AspireIT program and Georgia Tech. The nineteen campers were able to learn the foundations of programming through projects using Scratch and AppInventor. At the end of the camp, the girls were able to create their own final projects, such as animations, games, and Android Apps.

UMA RAO KRISHNAN

Uma is a coder, dreamer, dancer and leader in her community. She started coding in the Twitter Girls Who Code program (2013) where she developed a medical diary app for seniors. She became curriculum developer for KhodeUp, and interned at Gild analyzing diversity and upward mobility for executives. Uma is the ASB President at Burlingame High and will be a Regent’s scholar at UC Berkeley.

She ## Initiative: Developing the largest GWC Club in CA. I find CS fun and recruited 40 girls across the district (7 schools) to form a club in Fall 2013, managing all logistics and TA’ing for instructors from Facebook and USF. This year, we had so much interest from girls that we developed two skill tracks with separate instructors. Five teams enter the Samsung App Challenge in November. I took a team to their first Hackathon in January (HS Hacks II) where we developed a Pirate version of Tinder. I write a club blog (http:// smuhsdgwc.wordpress.com/ ), to share what we do and write about women in technology. By the end of this year, my club will have brought over 80 girls into computer science, and every one of the girls plans to continue in CS.

VALERIE CHEN

Valerie, a junior attending Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is a computer science enthusiast. She has won 1st place in a national STEM based competition, eCybermission, and was an international finalist in Conrad's Spirit of Innovation Challenge for her application of computer science to solve distracted driving. Valerie is also an intern at the Naval Research Laboratory, continuing her interest in computer science research. This year she was named a national winner of the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Award for her abilities in computing and leadership.

At the end of the day, she always finds time to give back to her community, volunteering at one of Northern Virginia’s largest non- profit organizations: FACETS. Valerie recognized that the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) opportunities that these students have are limited, if not, non-existent. Thus became the start of her program, STEM4Kids. She currently leads a curriculum that introduces elementary school students to STEM through engaging demonstrations and fun hands on experiments. The success of this program has allowed STEM4Kids to expand to all FACETS centers throughout the D.C. area. Through expertise and leadership, she hopes to show these students that STEM solves real world problems.