“Coding can open doors to a lot of interesting career opportunities for women,” said Laurie Bragg, associate program director at the David Eccles School of Business, as she welcomed more than 70 middle school and high school-aged girls to the Eccles School campus for the school’s second annual U Girls Code event.
U Girls Code, hosted by the Eccles School TEK Club in collaboration with Oracle, is an opportunity for girls to get a taste of coding and consider career opportunities in technology. At this year’s event, girls from multiple schools across the Wasatch Valley heard from female technology executives and gained hands-on experience in basic coding, building robots and creating a computer game.
Oracle employees led the instruction, and TEK Club members volunteered as teaching assistants, helping to troubleshoot and answer questions as the girls worked through problems. Eccles School staff and faculty also helped host the event and make the girls feel welcome.
A brainchild of Eccles School associate professor Michelle Kolbe and Oracle Academy senior manager Tyra Crockett, U Girls Code aims to promote women’s engagement with technology. This is one of several events sponsored by the Eccles School and TEK Club to encourage women to consider technology-related careers.