Girls Got IT shows 400 Lebanese students the path to technology

Some of the students and speakers at the Girls Got IT event

The first Girls Got IT event in Lebanon was such a huge success that the organisers have promised to hold it every year.

More than 400 students from public and private schools attended and several of A World at School国产视频檚 Global Youth Ambassadors聽were among the volunteers who helped to make the day go smoothly.

The successful event was held just days after a Women Empowerment Night in Lebanon heard about the #RewritingTheCode campaign launched by 国产视频, the children国产视频檚 charity behind A World at School. The aim is to change the embedded values that keep 63 million girls around the world out of school.

GIRLS GOT IT EVENT

Held at the Dbayeh Convention Center on March 12, it was organised by five women国产视频檚 groups, including the Digital Opportunity Trust 国产视频� a partner of 国产视频.

The theme was empowering girls to get into technology through school and university. There were 21 workshops focused on聽STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and design, and Mathematics).

They included hands-on training sessions in mobile and web development, 3D printing, gaming and graphic design, renewable energy and robotics.聽

Global Youth Ambassador Rozanna El Eid was one of those volunteering. She said: 国产视频淒uring the first part of the event, speakers addressed the girls as innovators, as future leaders in the field of engineering and as individuals capable of making a difference in society.聽

国产视频淚 could really sense the excitement amongst the girls. Many of them were surprised by the successful examples of women in engineering fields that were given by the speakers.国产视频�

The 10th and 11th-grade students clapped and cheered the speakers and moved on into the workshops section of the event inspired and energised.

Rozanna said:国产视频滻 toured most of the stations and rather than seeing a bunch of uninterested teenagers, I saw young girls actively engaging with the instructor, taking notes, asking questions and intensely working on practical, hands-on projects.

国产视频淚 came out of this event having learned how such an intervention in one day can change the entire career path of a young girl.

国产视频淎ll these girls need is a chance, an opportunity to get to know how much the world has evolved and how many different career paths there are at their feet.

国产视频淚 hope this becomes an annual event and grows bigger to encompass all high schools across Lebanon.国产视频�

The event was organised by the Lebanese League for Women in Business, Arab Women in Computing Lebanon Chapter, IEEE Women in Engineering Affinity Group 国产视频� Lebanon Section, Women in IT and Digital Opportunity Trust.

Girls Got IT founding member Mona Itani wrote in a blog published yesterday: 国产视频淲e promised the girls and the attending guests that the Girls Got IT would be an annual event and would only become better year after year.国产视频�

Read a blog about the event by one of our Global Youth Ambassadors.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT NIGHT

#RewritingTheCode campaign is explained at the event in Beirut Picture: Facebook/MKS Room

This event was organised by Make Sense, which connects聽social entrepreneurs with people ready to take up their challenges.

Four women panellists included Beirut-based writer and photographer Tabitha Ross, who has worked with A World at School.

She explained about the #RewritingTheCode campaign, which was launched in International Women国产视频檚 Day. She also told how innovative Code Clubs for girls had been set up in three African countries.

This pilot project, which will spread to three more countries,聽allows vulnerable girls and young women to get a unique chance to learn vital technology skills in a safe space.