Sullivan Foundation partner school Converse College has partnered with Girls Who Code as an extension of its program development in mathematics and technology.

Girls Who Code aims to close the gender gap in technology and encourages young women to pursue their interest in mathematics and computer science through hands-on learning and mentorship.

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The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Converse is hosting Girls Who Code club meetings virtually each week for middle and high school students who are interested in computer science and coding. Each week, participants learn new skills and work on real coding projects while being mentored by Converse undergraduate mathematics majors and Converse mathematics and computer science professors.

“We are excited to be partnering with Girls Who Code to host these meetings for middle and high school students each week,” said Dr. Jessica Sorrells, an assistant professor of mathematics and chair of the Department of Mathematics at Converse. “We want each and every student who is a part of the club to realize their potential in coding and understand that they can make a real difference in the mathematics and technology fields.”

Girls Who Code extends efforts being made by Converse to broaden educational opportunities for women in mathematics and technology. Over the past two years, Converse has added two faculty members to provide instruction within the institution’s interdisciplinary data science minor that launched in fall 2020. The data science minor, housed in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, consists of courses that provide fundamental skills in processing, analyzing, and inferring meaning from data sets.

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The minor was created to further develop students’ transferable skills, such as project management, critical thinking and problem-solving, and to open up opportunities across industries in data management, data consulting, consumer and market knowledge management, business analytics and healthcare informatics.

This article has been edited slightly from the original version appearing on the Converse College website.

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