OCTC's Digital Divas Encourages Young Women to Code

Owensboro, KY (05/15/2018) — Across the nation, young women are missing opportunities to secure high-paying jobs in the information technology (IT) field. More importantly, they are missing opportunities to be change-agents in their communities through creating technology that makes the world a better place. According to the non-profit group, Girls Who Code, by 2020 women will fill only 3% of the 1.4 million jobs available in computing related fields. Girls Who Code attributes this gender gap to decreasing interest of females in technology during childhood years. To help address this challenge in our local community, Theresa Schmitt, Computer & Information Technologies program coordinator and faculty at OCTC, implemented the Digital Divas! project. With funding support from the Yeager Charitable Trust, Schmitt's goal for the project was to encourage girls to learn about and one day seek careers in the field of technology. To accomplish this goal, she helped students at College View Middle School to engage in technology through learning about programming and app development with MIT's App Inventor. As a result of the project, participating females are now equipped to create their own community-impacting apps to address a need about which they are passionate. They also have a new understanding of the technology field and are empowered to pursue IT careers one day.

For more information on Digital Divas or OCTC's Computer & Information Technology program, please contact theresa.schmitt@kctcs.edu or 270.686.4604.

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