North Shore Hebrew Academy (NSHA) seventh-grade girls received a unique opportunity to explore the technology workplace at the New York City Google headquarters. After a NSHA parent, Micah Lemonik, who works at Google was able to set up the visit, girls who expressed explicit interest in the offered coding class were selected to attend. They met specifically with female workers, discussing the role of women in coding and technology.
The trip was organized by NSHA’s computer science instructor Danielle Orville, who’s been teaching these girls coding for two years, and “was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly [the girls] caught on and fell in love with the subject.” She teaches a coding elective that assigns no homework, but the girls who were chosen for this trip said they often took their love for coding home with them and practiced in their free time.
Once they arrived, the seventh graders were greeted by four female employees, whom they communicated with for the entire tour. The girls were encouraged to ask questions about the tech industry, Google and the application process. The teachers were excited to provide the girls with an extension of classroom learning, offering them an introduction to possible career paths if they choose to continue coding.
“Providing our students with this unique experience to have an intimate conversation with women professionals in the tech field has made a tremendous impact and we will continue to help our students explore their passions and all the opportunities that lay ahead of them,” said Orville.
The girls were positively impacted by their Google experience.
Student Raquel Blatter said that the conversation with employees taught her “that we can do anything we set our mind to. When we learn to code in school it gives us an introduction to the world of coding and what we can expect if we choose a career in coding.”
Seventh grader Eve Hakimian said that the woman provided helpful information to aid the continuation of their studies.
“The women at the Google office showed us the things we can accomplish if we keep coding,” said Hakimian. “In school, we practice coding by using Code.org and Khan Academy, which teaches us JavaScript.”
More than anything, the coding teachers are excited to have provided the students with more information about possible career paths. Teaching coding in school opened several doors for the girls, and further exploring those possibilities allowed for the students to gain specific insight into the tech industry.
