Secondary school children from across the region have been given the opportunity to discover more about careers in digital at our Girls into Tech event.
To mark International Women’s Day (Saturday 8th March) we welcomed students from Kingsmeadow, Monkwearmouth, Hebburn and Washington schools to our Baltic Campus.
They visited the college’s new Digital Up North space to learn about careers in digital across many sectors through a range of hands-on activities and talks.
They took part in a series of interactive workshops including games development, web design, myth busting employability skills and a binary blitz challenge.
They then heard from a panel of women who are leaders within the industry including Professor Sue Black OBE from Durham University, Paula Harrison from Layers Studio and Shanttel Kemawor from Sage as well Lily Bell, a current Digi Tech student.
Lilly from Hebburn School was inspired about working in the sector after hearing from the female experts on the panel, she said: “Today’s been a great day and has taught me a lot about possible future careers, I’m really excited about pursuing a career in computer science.”
Panel member Sue Black OBE said “If we can get people interested in these areas from an early age, in the long term it will be hugely beneficial in addressing the skills shortages faced in our industry. Events like this are really important in demonstrating that women can pursue and have a successful career within the digital sector.”
Monika Sharma, Curriculum Leader for Digital Tech said “It was fantastic to see the students so engaged with the range of activities going on. Events and activities like this play a key part in allowing young girls to develop an interest in digital technology and help remove some of the perceived barrier’s preventing woman from choosing to enter this sector.
“In the year that we are celebrating our 80th anniversary it’s important to reflect on our past as well as looking to our future. 80 years ago, we were offering typewriting courses to female students, fast forward to now and they have the opportunity to develop software, analyse data, design games and know how to look for cyber security attacks.”
Share This Article
Read Article