GWC alumni picks up big prize on Road Map to Success
Madiha Alam awarded all expenses paid scholarship to the 2019 Grace Hopper Celebration from Bank of America
We know that girls are outnumbered in, not only the computer science industry but also in the study of computer science in college. In fact, upon entering college, only 1 in 17 women will plan on majoring in engineering or computing — compared to 1 in 5 men. Of those girls who enter college pursuing computer science, only 4 percent will graduate with a computer science degree.
With 13,000 of our Girls Who Code alumni now in college, and in the name of sisterhood, we want to continue to be there for girls and women studying computing. So, this fall we launched College Loops to support our college-aged Girls Who Code alumni through their studies and experiences. We celebrated this new program at the biggest women’s CS party in the US, the Grace Hopper Celebration.
We hung out with young women who are taking the computer science industry by storm and had the chance to reconnect with over 200 women in our network. (Needless to say, we had an incredible few days surrounded by inspiring and change-making women!)
We challenged our alumni to complete the Road Map to Success Challenge, a venue-wide scavenger hunt to encourage networking and interviewing with some of the biggest names in tech — our corporate partners. Our friends at Bank of America added an extra layer to this competition by sponsoring a scholarship to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration in 2019!
This challenge had a lot of laughs, fun swag, created countless professional and personal connections, and for lucky alum, Madiha Alam, the Bank of America scholarship to attend Grace Hopper Celebration 2019!
Madiha is an alum of a 2016 Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program and a member of Northeastern University’s Girls Who Code College Loop! She is currently studying Computer Science and Design at Northeastern University. Congrats to Madiha!
Bank of America executive, Kris Fador said, “With information technology careers on the rise, our partnership with Girls Who Code gives young girls a place where they can code without fear of failure and start to think seriously about a career in technology. We are excited to partner with Girls Who Code to provide a unique opportunity for Madiha to return to Grace Hopper, largest women conference.”
Girls Who Code and Bank of America know networking with your peers and potential employers is critical to professional development. The Grace Hopper Celebration is a great gathering that brings these two groups together, so we are so excited to continue to work with Bank of America to award 4(!!) more scholarships for Girls Who Code alumni to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration in 2019 with Madiha!
We’re excited to share future scholarship opportunities with you. Keep your eye out for details in future newsletters!
Thank you to Bank of America for your generosity and support of Girls Who Code alumni, and thank you to Accenture, Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Prudential, and Walmart who also participated in the Road Map to Success Challenge. We look forward to seeing you all at Grace Hopper Celebration 2019 in Orlando, Florida next year!
