Asbury Park, NJ, February 18, 2019 -- Jersey Shore Women in Tech (JSWT), the fast-growing organization dedicated to supporting, educating, mentoring women in the tech industry, celebrated their first successful year of operations by launching a campaign to send local girls to coding camp. With the support of the community and a partnership with Geek Speak, JSWT has announced that they have raised enough funds to send four well-deserving students to Plum Crazy Robotics in Marlboro, NJ.
JSWT fundraising efforts were anchored by a Go Fund Me page - “Send Girls to Coding Camp” which was set live November 18, 2018 and ran through Dec 31st. Additional resources were raised from a holiday mixer event, hosted in conjunction with SEMGeeks. Tech inspired prizes including an iPad (donated by The Siegfried Group), and SparkFun Inventor’s Kits (donated by iCIMS) were raffled off in support of the campaign. In the final hours of the fundraising, JSWT was able to hit their goal of $5,000 thanks to a generous anonymous donor giving $360 to the cause.
“We have been humbled by how the local community has rallied around this cause and been as passionate as we are about providing fair and necessary educational opportunities for all children - regardless of economic status, gender, or race.” says JSWT Co-Founder, Brittany Jacobs. “JSWT is extremely proud to be able to empower girls to explore the world of technology in such a fun way!”
At Plum Crazy Robotics, the girls will attend a fun and interactive lab where they will learn code, writing in Python and various other languages while working with Arduinos, Raspberry Pi's, gaming, 3D printing, etc. Classes will be 1x/week for 90 minutes after school and will run for 2 months. Students typically start with the same foundation and can choose which trajectory is most interesting to them. Additionally, each girl will receive a take-home kit to inspire practice at home and keep after the course ends as a way for them to continue learning. Transportation will be arranged at no cost to the student as part of the sponsorship.
Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction at Asbury Park High School, Janice Kroposky, played a critical role, working with JSWT to facilitate the application process by helping students apply and providing a written reference. The students selected provided inspiring submissions detailing their desire to code and providing support for why they are the right candidate for the opportunity. The winning applicants from Asbury High School are Jaione’ Murray, Juna Weedon Weedon Micah Wright, and Eliyah Tulley.
“We are delighted that local organizations like JSWT share in Asbury Park School District's core beliefs; one of which includes increasing opportunities and exposures for our students," says Superintendent Sancha K. Gray. "Providing our students with this experience opens up a world of possibilities while deepening their knowledge of coding, which is a necessary literacy in the digital age."
JSWT will present the award recipients with the scholarship at the Asbury Park Board of Education meeting on Thursday February 21 at 7 pm at Bradley Elementary School in Asbury Park. Proud corporate sponsors included The Siegfried Group, iCIMS, WorkWave, Vydia Inc., SEMGeeks and others.
About Jersey Shore Women in Tech:
Founded in 2017, Jersey Shore Women in Tech was created to support, educate, mentor and develop a network for women in the Information Technology industry. From students to veteran developers, business analysts to digital marketers, and administrators to CEO's we bring together all levels of experience who are eager to advance their career, grow their business, fill in their knowledge gaps, and network with like-minded people. 'Sharing' in today's society is paving the way for business engagement and network growth, so we encourage our members to come in and share your latest challenges and successes, build your network and grow together! To see upcoming event for JSWT please visit https://www.meetup.com/jersey-shore-women-in-tech/
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