String newClub= "Girls Have IT";

As part of our mission, we strive to reach out to the junior highs that feed into my high school. I told my Computer Science teacher that I really wanted to go to the junior highs and teach Scratch. Scratch is a program, developed by MIT, to teach the basic fundamentals of Computer Science by forcing students to think algorithmicly, or in steps. My teacher agreed and told me to start by writing an email to both principals and see which one responds first or is the most interested. Since it was my first time to contact an administrator, he had me send my emails to him first and then we would edit them from there.

So I typed the emails. Here was the first draft:  

Hello Mrs. (Princi­pal name), My name is Nyssa T and I am a junior currently enrolled at (Name) High School. I am working on a project known as AspireIT. AspireIT focuses on teaching young junior high girls about careers in technology such as Computer Science, Web Design, Animation, etc. I am emailing you because I would like to start a program at your school for AspireIT. At (my school), we have an organization that branches off of our Computer Science program known as Warrior Women in Technology or WWIT for short. We would like to start a "pipeline" of women who may wish to pursue a field in technology but may not know how or may be intimidated.Our program will teach junior high girls about the fundamentals of Java (a programming language we teach in Computer Science). I would like to know if you would be interested in having this program?The program would be every Friday for 4 weeks from 4-5:30 that teaches java using a program, MIT created, known as Scratch. We plan to have a meeting at your home school (date) that explains to the parents who we are and what our purpose is.  If you are interested, please email me back ASAP! We would like to get this program going by the 5th 6 weeks.Thank you for your time. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, I would love to hear them!  

Thank you, 

Nyssa T

*Side Note*
I should explain what AspireIt is...
Back in September, I applied for the National Center for Women in Technology award. In December, I learned that I, along with another girl at my high school, had received the national runner up. Because of this, they allowed us to apply for a grant to create a program in middle schools that promotes Computer Science. Since I had already wanted to do that, the other girl and I attempted to apply for a grant. However, being the busy AP students we are, we didn't have time to roll out all the details by the deadline. But we decided we wanted to do it anyway.
*End Side Note*

So, my Computer Science teacher printed out my email and he edited it and gave me suggestions that would improve my professionalism and this is what the outcome was:

Hello Mrs. (Principal Name),   My name is Nyssa T, and I am a junior currently enrolled at (Name) High School. I am working on a project known as AspireIT. AspireIT focuses on teaching young junior high girls about careers in technology such as Animation, Computer Science, Digital Electronics, and Web Design. I am very excited about this program and would like to start a program at your school for AspireIT. You can find out more about AspireIT at http://www.ncwit.org/sites/default/files/file_type/ncwit_aspireit_rfp_11_13.pdf.  At (my school), we have an organization that branches off of our Computer Science program known as Warrior Women in Technology. We would like to start a pipeline of women who may wish to pursue a field in technology but may not know how or may be intimidated. We will teach the fundamentals of computer science to junior high girls with the AspireIT program and we hope to help them strive to achieve great things in a technological field.Would you be interested in having this program?Our plan is to have the program every Friday for 4 weeks from 4-5:30 at your school. We would teach students algorithmic thinking using a program known as Scratch, which was create be MIT. We would like to have a meeting at your school (date) that explains to the parents who we are and what our purpose is.  If you are interested, please email me back at your convenience. We would like to get this program started by the 5th 6 weeks. 

Thank you for your time, 

Nyssa T

As you can tell, there are still many grammatical errors (I'm in AP English III and my grammar is still horrible) so we edited it again:

Hello Mrs. (Principal Name), My name is Nyssa T and I am a junior currently enrolled at (Name) High School. I am working on a project known as AspireIT, which focuses on teaching junior high girls about careers in technology such as Animation, Computer Science, Digital Electronics, and Web Design. I am very excited about this program and would like to start a program at your school for AspireIT. You can find out more about AspireIT at http://www.ncwit.org/sites/default/files/file_type/ncwit_aspireit_rfp_11_13.pdf. At (my school), we have an organization that branches off of our Computer Science program known as Warrior Women in Technology. We would like to not only have women from (my school) pursuing their career in technology but start encouraging junior high girls to consider choosing a career in one of our fields. We will teach the fundamentals of computer science to them in hopes of sparking an interest at a younger age and pushing them strive to achieve great things in a technological field.Would you be interested in having this program? Our plan is to have the program every Friday for 4 weeks from 4-5:30 at your school. We would teach students algorithmic thinking using a program known as Scratch, which was created by MIT. We would like to have a meeting at your school (date) that explains to the parents who we are and what our purpose is.  If you are interested, please email me back at your convenience. We would like to get this program started by the 5th 6 weeks.

Thank you for your time, 

Nyssa T 

And finally:

 Hello Mrs. (Principal Name), My name is Nyssa T and I am a junior currently enrolled at (Name) High School. I am working on a project known as AspireIT, which focuses on teaching junior high girls about careers in technology such as Animation, Computer Science, Digital Electronics, and Web Design. I am very excited about this program and would like to start a program at your school for AspireIT. You can find out more about AspireIT at http://www.ncwit.org/sites/default/files/file_type/ncwit_aspireit_rfp_11_13.pdf.
At (my school), we have an organization that branches off of our Computer Science program known as Warrior Women in Technology. We would like to have women from (my school) pursuing their career in technology and start encouraging junior high girls to consider choosing a career in one of our fields. We will teach the fundamentals of Computer Science to them in hopes of sparking an interest at a younger age. We believe they can achieve great things in a technological field. Would you be interested in having this program?
Our plan is to have the program every Friday for 4 weeks from 4-5:30 at your school. We would teach students algorithmic thinking using a program known as Scratch, which was created by MIT. We would like to have a meeting at your school that explains to the parents who we are and what our purpose is.  If you are interested, please email me back at your convenience so we can discuss dates. We would like to get this program started by the 5th 6 weeks.
Thank you for your time,
Nyssa T

I sent that specific email to both principals and got some... interesting responses to say the least.

One junior high emailed me back first and the principal was more than happy to have our program. However, due to the time of year, she was out for meetings frequently and did not respond as fast as I would have liked...

This led to the wild goose chase of Girls Have IT and that junior high.

I started with the principal who then gave my email and name to one of the science teachers at that junior high who called me during lunch one day. Excited, I explained who I was and what I wanted to do and they were very confused as to how what I wanted to do had any relevance to science at that junior high. I wasn't sure either... So, they then gave my information to one of the MAC lab teachers who was just as confused as the science teacher and then my information was given to one of the female teachers of the CTHEI.

She then called me during my 6th period and asked what was going on. Thankfully, I have a very kind Sociology teacher who allowed me to call the teacher back and explain what is happening.

I explained what I wanted to do there and she was SO excited. I came up with the program name being "Girls Have IT" while on the phone with her and she told me to send her all the information and dates and we would work together to make it happen.

From there, I created a flyer, a lesson plan, and a PowerPoint explaining what I wanted to do. I then met up with both Computer Science teachers at my school and showed them my flyer, lesson plan, and PowerPoint and they critiqued them and we came up with this:

I didn't save the actual image, so this is the flyer I originally made with it's edits on it.

This is the rough draft but was ultimately the final minus a few errors. I should really learn to save...

This is the rough draft of the packet we gave them at the information meeting.

This includes; what Warrior Women in Technology is, what Computer Science is, what the plan is, why their daughters should join Girls Have IT, and the dates. We later changed them to 4 weeks to allow for replanning for the 6th 6 weeks. We also changed the email to wwomenintech@gmail.com

Information Packet/ Project I made to teach: 

 

I taught them the basic blocks we were going to use and then we explored and manipulated the blocks with projects.

Here is my project for teaching variables: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/16308006/#player

PowerPoint I showed the Girls when they came to the information meeting:

After a lot of editing and planning, Warrior Women in Technology finally was able to start having after school seminars for that junior high!

Club WarriorWomenInTechnology = new Club();

I was told to share the whole story of how Warrior Women in Technology came to be. I will try my best to remember everything I can to help you succeed in whatever you are trying to accomplish.

It all started back in September when my Computer Science teacher told me I should start a club for women in technology. I've wanted to do this since I began Computer Science in the school year of 2012 to 2013. My teacher has worked hard to understand why women don't continue in Computer Science past the first year. This is puzzling even to me. I came to the conclusion that it's because women like to travel in packs. If their friends do it, they will too. Now, this isn't because women are foolish and can't think for themselves, it's because women work best in teams. We love socializing and getting to collaborate! It's in our nature!

This realization is what led me to understand what I needed to get done to get more women involved with Computer Science. So, I held a meeting in early November, with no expectation as to how many, if any, girls would show up. I put up flyers, I texted every girl I knew, I asked both Computer Science teachers, the Web Design teacher, and the Digital Electronics teacher to tell their classes, and I encouraged every girl I came into contact with to come check us out. Knowing that it's hard to get people to come to a meeting during lunch, let alone a group of women for a club about technology, I got ready to speak to, what I assumed would be, 3 girls. To my surprise, 24 girls showed up to my meeting, eager to learn and pursue careers in technology!

Originally, I made Warrior Women in Technology to be a club dedicated to finding scholarships and teaching random things to these girls. However, through many long hours on the internet and the support of my Computer Science teacher, we are now a club dedicated to teaching young girls about Computer Science, finding opportunities for us to promote Computer Science, competing as a team to benefit our society, and above all, a club that loves and supports one another regardless of what field we decide to pursue.

I want to thank all 24 of you for helping develop, what we hope to be, a legacy at our high school.

throws grammarNotFoundException;

System.out.println("Hello World");

I can't explain this post any better than that. I was told to create a blog about my club at my high school, "Warrior Women in Technology". This is my attempt to begin. 

Here is my disclaimer: I love my girls. Every one of them. This blog is not only dedicated to spreading the Computer Science "gospel" but also to brag on what amazing girls we have at my school. 

The purpose of our blog is to tell the story of how we do what we do in every possible detail in hopes that maybe some day someone will read it and tweek it into their own and do something amazing. I am happy to answer any questions and encourage them to be asked. There is nothing I love more than helping anyone, especially women, to pursue a career in the technological field. 

Let's show the world that women aren't just pretty faces. We are here to conquer and surpass stereotypes in the field of Computer Science.