AT&T donates $1m to close gender gap in tech, engineering
AT&T has donated $1 million to the Girls Who Code project with the aim of contributing to the closure of the gender gap within technology and engineering.
The US carrier announced the donation on Thursday at the graduation ceremony of AT&T's 2014 Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program. The program, a computer science course, aims to educate, interest and equip female students with the tools necessary to pursue opportunities in the technology and engineering fields.
The contribution will help the non-profit organization expand its Summer Immersion Program and Girls Who Code clubs to additional cities across the United States.
The seven-week summer program takes 20 high school students and places them with technology firms or universities, and teaches them the basics of computer science in a real-world setting. No experience is needed to apply, but, naturally, applicants must have an interest in technology.
"As we work to close the gender gap in technology and empower young women across the country, AT&T's collaboration -- from contributing financial resources to engaging employees in our mission -- has been essential," said Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code. :Together we are creating an environment that exposes girls to computer science careers and leaders and demonstrates to them that with this skillset, the possibilities are endless."
In AT&T's summer program this year, students learned several programming languages, designed computer games using JavaScript, HTML and CSS, programmed robots, and built mobile apps from the ground up. The students were then given the task to pursue their own original, tech-related projects. The AT&T Girls Who Code class comprised of students from all of New York City's boroughs, including eight from Queens, two from Brooklyn, two from Manhattan, one from the Bronx and one from Long Island -- in addition to five students from New Jersey and one student from Houston, Texas.
AT&T has been involved with Girls Who Code since 2012.