Every year cPanel shows our support for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education in a bunch of different ways, but we don’t often talk about it. It’s incredibly important to us that we help get young people involved in technology early, and we recognize that everyone isn’t presented with the same opportunities. Besides, who can resist the delight of a child who’s learned something new?

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting 60 of the smartest and most inspirational little girls I’ve ever met. These 8th graders from around west Michigan attended the only (so far) International Girls in ICT event hosted in the US this year, and it was a pretty spectacular event to be part of.

Girls in ICT?

The International Girls in ICT day is an annual event where all across the globe events are held to introduce young girls to the wonderful things they could do in the different technology fields, and to encourage them to enter the technology industry.

What did we do?

The day started with a short introduction from sponsors (your’s truly included), and then we talked about some of the local FIRST robotics groups. The majority of my day, however, was spent helping the girls with building and running GoPiGos in groups of 3-5.

 

They were all brilliant and spent a ton of time leading their robots around with their phones (because all 8th graders have cell phones in 2017).

The girls weren’t able to take the bots home, but the number of girls that started the day with “Sure, I kinda think I could do science stuff” to “I want to do this FOREVER” makes the whole thing (and the 4 hours of driving across the state and back) completely worth it.

 

Where else should we be?

The next event promoting Girls-in-technology type event for me is also in Michigan, and is called “Hello, World“. cPanel sponsors all kinds of events throughout the year, and I’d love to add your event to our list of things that we support! If you are part of a great non-profit group, or if you are hosting a community building event that needs help, let me know! Comment below or find me on twitter, and let’s see how I can help!