Hackergal has been a great resource for my students and me over the last six years. I first connected with Hackergal when I was working with different classrooms exploring career opportunities. One of the colleagues I was working with had a passion for coding and wanted to get more of her students involved. She asked me about resources and I had come across the Hackergal organization. I reached out to Hackergal and was connected with Kumiko Imai. This is where my coding journey REALLY began. Kumiko helped my colleague and I set up a Hackathon in the Spring of 2019 with about 30 girls at one school. The girls had a great day, they thoroughly enjoyed the experience and we saw the potential of what could be achieved.
The following year, I had the opportunity to work with grade 6 – 8 students from across 19 schools. I reached out to my colleagues in those classrooms to gauge interest in joining a Family of Schools group where the students involved could possibly meet once a month and we could use the Hackergal resources together. Well…by the time we got organized, COVID hit and coding was the last thing on our minds. The following year, I was determined to make the idea happen, my colleagues and I thought it would be good to get like-minded students together to learn, collaborate and share. So, we started the club online. Once a week, students from multiple schools would meet after school in a Google Classroom and we would learn together using Hackergal’s resources. When we had trouble with our coding or we needed a new challenge, Kumiko would meet with our group online and teach us something new. It was AMAZING! In a time where the students weren’t getting as many opportunities to socialize or do extracurricular activities, we were able to “gather” and build each other up. On top of that, I was learning coding along with the girls and really enjoying it. The tutorials were easy to follow and they were nice little lessons, so it wasn’t overwhelming.
During the 2022-23 school year, we were finally able to gather again. Colleagues I was working with, were nervous but enthusiastic to carry out what was done online, in-person. In the Spring of 2023, we had a Family of Schools Hackathon with about 100 students. The girls had a great time and many were really looking forward to participating again in the 2023-24 school year. Some students discovered, through the experience, working with computer technology was something they enjoyed; others decided it may not be a career path for them, but maybe a hobby. This past school year, we had students from different schools meet 6 times throughout the year to share the skills they were learning from the Hackergal curriculum and collaborate on Lynx projects. Their coding journeys culminated in the 2024 Spring Hackathon, we spent the day together developing projects based on this year’s theme, Cyber Security. It was a great day and the students were SO excited to have the opportunity to be spotlighted during the National broadcast. They learned so much this past year and we are really looking forward to continuing with the Hackergal resources and welcoming new coders to the club. We would not have been so successful on our coding journeys without the Hackergal resources and staff, plus all the colleagues (school staff) who were willing to go on this coding adventure. THANKS, HACKERGAL!
Written by Marsha Dorscht