As a way to reconnect with the community that introduced me to computer science two years ago, I came back to Girls Who Code as a TA for the Atlanta AT&T office this summer.
And what a summer it was. Every day was a new adventure -- but I think that might be any high school teacher's motto. These girls were all going into their junior or senior year, which meant they weren't too much younger than me. It took some navigating before I found a middle ground between being their companion and being their instructor. 20 teenage girls. 8 hour workdays. 5 days a week. 2 person teaching team, neither who have had classroom experience. Without a doubt, it was challenging. Just keeping their attention on a subject that an overwhelming majority had no prior experience with was by far more difficult than the material they were learning. Now that I've had some time to sort out my thoughts about this summer internship, I appreciate how much I am coming out with. I was inspired by an talented, strong, vocal group of young women who were not afraid to speak their mind. I got the chance to work with a tenacious woman, Kim, who believed in herself so much that she confidently stood her ground even when others disagreed with her. I interacted closely with our AT&T Partner Point of Contact, Sonia Daniels, who's experience with and determination towards the GWC program clearly showed and made the summer as memorable to us as it was to the girls. I met parents who wanted nothing more but to see their daughters succeed in life. I met tech professionals like Jasmine Dennis of Splunk, who was so excited about the mission of the program that she came back for a mentoring session and gave an inspiring speech at Graduation. I learnt about other internship opportunities that AT&T and partnering companies had and developed connections that could help me in the future. But I think the most eye opening moment for me was during a field trip to the Atlanta Tech Village. This building incubates many start ups, and in the nature of modern tech companies and the idea of transparency, most office spaces had ceiling-to-floor glass panels for at least two sides of the room. While we couldn't meet many working individuals while on our tour, we could see them in action. The disparity between the amount of men vs the amount of women was stunning. It's one thing to hear about the gender gap in the tech field and another to actually see it. It's easy to say that by the end of the day, my job inspiring those students seemed all the more important. I hope we were successful.
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