STEM & STEAM

Girls Who Code Launches Paid 2-Week Summer Courses

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 11/16/17

Girls Who Code will be reaching an additional thousand girls this summer with accelerated versions of its coding lessons. "Girls Who Code Campus," as the new program is called, will kick off in six cities for middle and high school students.

Over two weeks, participants will get deep dives into the topic of their choice: computer science, website design and development, wearable tech and fashion design, or iPhone app development.

Unlike the seven-week summer immersion programs, which are free for the students, there's a cost to Campus. The CS and website courses are each $1,899; wearable tech and iPhone development are $1,999; those prices will increase starting in 2018. Scholarships are being made by Deloitte for students who meet eligibility requirements; according to the program organizers, 20 percent of seats will be given to scholarship holders.

Over the last five years, the organization has reached nearly 40,000 girls in every state with its coding clubs and seven-week summertime coding programs. The shortened courses will be made available in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York and Washington, D.C. in public and private schools, as well as a handful of colleges and universities. (The schedule of sessions is available on Girls Who Code website.)

"In the last five years, we've quadrupled the pipeline of women in tech. Yet every year, we still turn away thousands of girls from our summer immersion program because we're over-subscribed," said Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, in a press release. "With Campus, we'll be able to expand Girls Who Code to thousands more girls and inspire them to tackle our country's toughest problems."