Miami Herald – by Valeria Bula
SapientRazorfish, a global group designed to help companies reimagine their businesses, is teaming up with Code/Art, a Miami-based nonprofit focused on computer science education for girls, to pilot a series of coding workshops aimed at sparking girls’ interest in computer science through digital art.
“Good to Code!: A Code/Art Workshop Series @ SapientRazorfish” will be held at the company’s office in Coconut Grove and will include guest lectures from SapientRazorfish thought leaders.
“This is an amazing opportunity. Code/Art inspires such incredible growth in everyone it touches,” Code/Art instructor Anna Mistele said in a news release. “I’ve watched tentative students become skilled and confident as they progress through the workshops, and I’ve watched complete beginners learn in just one day to develop their own creative programs.”
The Code/Art workshop series at SapientRazorfish is free and open to girls in grades 4-8, who either live in or attend school in Coconut Grove.
The workshop series consists of five monthly Sunday workshops that build on each other, with the fifth session being a showcase event for family and friends. No prior coding experience is required, but accepted participants must attend all five sessions.
With the currently existing disparities between men and women in the computer science field, women make up only 18 percent of computer science undergraduates in the United States, according to organizers.
SapientRazorfish and Code/Art want to send an empowering message to combat this: Girls, like boys, can thrive in this field, too.
To offset this, Code/Art uses art to encourage girls to get into coding at an early age.
“Much like computer games are often an onramp to coding for boys, Code/Art uses art as an onramp to coding for girls,” said Amy Austin Renshaw, Code/Art’s executive director. “Our workshops teach students how to write computer programs that generate different types of art.”
“It is important to encourage more young women to study computer science. We get better results when we have diversity of voice and perspective on our technical teams,” said Eduardo Legorburu, Global Production Services lead at SapientRazorfish.
Said middle-school student Jenna Hart: “At Code/Art [workshops], I’ve learned to refine my current coding skills, but I’ve also learned some exciting new coding skills, especially in animation!”
DETAILS
Free workshops take place 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 24, Oct. 15, Nov. 12, Dec. 10, and Jan. 7, 2018 at SapientRazorfish, 2911 Grand Ave. in Coconut Grove. Lunch is included.
Applications are being accepted online at https://www.code-art.com/SR_CodeGirl. The deadline for applying is Friday, Sept. 1. Applicants will be notified if they have been accepted by Friday, Sept. 8.
For questions about the workshop series or how to apply, email info@code-art.com.
