A Summer Camp Addresses an Industry Gender Gap

NEW CONCORD, OH – As the season of endless summer camps continue, one tries to combat the gender gap in technology related fields.

Sisterhood Recoded Camp at Muskingum University brings in students of all genders, ages 10 to 15, to learn about the importance of inclusion in the industry and develop their own mobile app.

“We challenge them to come up with something that they would like to use. So some of them come up with, um, games and that sort of thing. Some come up with, one year we had a girl who was really interested in gardening. So she came up with a garden planning app. Something that she would like to use that filled a need that she saw. So really it can be anything that they’re interested in that they feel fills some sort of a need,” said Jay Shaffstall, assistant professor of computer science at Muskingum University.

One of the favorite parts of this camp, for Shaffstall is seeing students discover a new passion for coding.

“Seeing how the interest in technology sparks something in the participants. Generally they come in, their first year with no experience in programming at all and then they get some in this camp and then often the next year their parents tell me how they spent their entire year doing coding and, you know, reading more about it. And so it really, for the ones who are talented and interested in it, it sparks that interest,” Shaffstall said.

Sisterhood Recoded Camp was made free to the students thanks, in part, to support from the National Center for Women in Informational Technology and the Adams Family Foundation.

Learn more about Sisterhood Recoded at Sisterhood.zone.