Research Update #3: The Workshops

Yesterday's bible verse of the day was Mark 12:10, which reads, "Have you not read this Scripture: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone'?" It seemed fitting as my plan to develop a two-week program for the girls at one of the high schools fell apart. The girls, busy with state testing, college prepping, final projects, and upcoming vacations, decided they would not like to participate in an after-school program at this time. This school was the best candidate for the two-week program because these girls lacked interest in STEM and hadn't been exposed to basic computer literacy, but they had the benefit of a school that had structure and was eager to provide education. As an alternative, I begged them to give me a 2-hour time slot to give the same workshop I have been giving at the other schools, and as it turns out, it might just be enough. I would have loved to spend more time teaching and giving them actual coding abilities beyond printing stuff in Python; however, trust in my ability to jam pack what they need to know in two hours of a fun presentation with snacks included.

The 2-hour workshop titled "You can do it: Women in STEM" starts with a fun activity where the girls put the careers they aspire to in post-it notes and paste the notes onto a willing participant. Then we read and snap along as everyone's aspirations are being read. My favorite part is hearing them giggle like kids as I engage their brains into a question that is not easy to answer at 16. The other highlights of the workshop are that we learn about three current Latinas in STEM and four careers in technology. We also write our first line of code on our phones, making a Python program that takes our name as input. Later, we prepare a budget in Google Sheets and itinerary on Google Docs for a tourist visit to Santiago, and they attach those documents and email them to me. At the end, they fill out a survey and receive a one-pager with QR codes to 6 different resources: YouTube series to learn Google Docs, Google Sheets, Python, Web development, and Graphic design in Canva, two different in-person programs to learn programming (including Chicas en Tec R.D.) and a list of universities that offer careers in these fields.

Back to the bible quote at the beginning of this post, although my original plan was rejected, it became the cornerstone for a robust workshop that I can now share with the regional director of education that I met with at the beginning of this project. Remember, my goal was to make something repeatable, something teachers can do without me across schools in the city. Realistically, a 2-week program would've been too much of an undertaking, remembering the warnings of the regional director about no one being willing to do unpaid work. Therefore, making this workshop that requires little materials, and for girls to only have access to their phones (which I have found 80% of them do), while still exposing them to everything they need, feels like a win. Teachers would need to only guide them through a publicly available slide presentation and go from there. I'm excited to hear what she thinks, and maybe my recommendation will be taken seriously. If not, the biggest lesson I've learned is that just talking about it has had enough of an impact. A few blogs ago, I wrote about a group of girls who felt seen after I came over to do surveys. They're the only 4 girls in a cohort of 80 in technology at their school, and the project inspired them to host a Women in Tech Day at school, where, along with their male peers, they highlighted the absence of women in STEM and taught everyone about current women in technology. With that said, we're already moving mountains, team! Giving this workshop at the four schools will definitely create a wave of change in one girl's mind, and it would've all been worth it just for her.