‘Girls Who Code’ Shapes Young Women in STEM

By Molly Moore

In this year’s graduating class, the percentage of women pursing STEM majors from Meridian reached a record high of 57%, according to the Advanced Program Club. Comparatively, in the Class of 2019, women made up only 38% of graduates planning to major in STEM. This progression among Meridian students reflects a nationwide diversification of fields formally considered out of reach for women. Based on data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), women made up 45% of students majoring in STEM in 2020, compared to 40% in 2010. While the trend of women considering STEM fields, not only at Meridian but nationwide, has been positive, many women are still deterred from entering STEM due to gender barriers. Even senior Victoria Lam, CoFounder of Meridian’s chapter of Girls Who Code and prospective computer science major, was anxious about taking AP Com-

Girls Who Code Co-Founder and senior Victoria Lam teaches text based coding to young girls at Oak Street Elementary during a Febuary meeting. (Photo via @gwc.at.meridian) puter Science A her sophomore year. Lam knew she would be an outsider as she viewed computer science a male-dominated discipline.

“It was scary going into a field where I already knew there weren’t going to be a lot of girls. Growing up there wasn’t a lot of talk about going into computer science, and it was just one of those fields where I knew there were going to be a lot of guys.”

Lam was only one of four girls in her computer science class that year, however, she was encapsulated by its logical nature, rather than blunt memorization in constrast to her other classes.

Similar to Lam, Alexis Niemi, fellow Co-Founder of Girls Who Code, recalled struggling to find a sense of community in her class due to the lack of women.

“I decided to try AP Computer Science, which was incredibly isolating. I was used to being the only girl in the room.”

Lam and Niemi started Meridian’s chapter of Girls Who Code in 2020 with the goal of teaching young girls at Oak Street Elementary how to code and encourage them to feel confident and empowered in the STEM field. They wanted to provide girls with a community in a field that can easily feel isolating.

Members of Girls Who Code visit Oak Street every two weeks after school to hold meetings with the elementary schoolers. They teach block coding and text based coding while also familiarizing the girls with problem solving, logic and collaboration skills.

“It is really cute to listen to them collaborate together and