Girls Who Code Participants Create an App!

Three of our Girls Who Code participants have taken the initiative to form a team and participate in the yearly Technovation competition. Technovation challenges teams of girls from all over the world to learn and apply the skills need to solve real-world problems through tech.  Their team, Team Vaguar, created an app called Velle to address the need of connecting high school students to volunteering opportunities.  See their pitch video at this link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrSmbJxMQSE

 

In April, we took a moment to ask two of their members a few questions about their Girls Who Code and Technovation experience.

 

What is Technovation and why are you participating in it?

 

Portia Cooper: Technovation is an international app development competition. I am participating in Technovation to learn more about coding. Also, I want to explore the app development process.

 

April Zhang: Technovation is a mobile app building competition that allows girls around the world to learn about marketing, businesses, and coding. Technovation focuses on closing the gender gap in coding and providing girls with more learning opportunities. I wanted to participate in Technovation because I thought it would be a fun way for me to get closer to girls in my community while also providing us with new educational experiences. That’s why I started Team Vaguar.

 

What/who is your team and what project are you going to submit?

 

PC: April Zhang and Iman Din are my teammates. We are developing an app that connects people interested in volunteering with opportunities to serve their community and tracks volunteer hours.

 

AZ: We have three students on our team, Portia, Iman and I. We first met at the Girls Who Code program at the U of A. We are going to submit a volunteer hour tracker and opportunity finder app.

 

How did you choose your topic and why is it important?

 

PC: Our project topic was inspired by one of the team member’s real- life volunteer struggles. This topic is important because it will help connect people with their communities.

 

AZ: After many hours of debate, we all realized we had one thing in common: we loved to volunteer. Even more surprising, we had the same problems with volunteering, it was hard to track our hours and find places to volunteer. So coming from personal experience, we decided to create this app to help our fellow students. Volunteering is important to us because it allows us to get into the real world, and gives us the chance to help out in our community.

 

Has your experience in Girls Who Code helped with your Technovation project?

 

PC: Yes, Girls Who Code has provided me with a foundation of coding logic that I applied to the Technovation project.

 

AZ: This past semester in Girls Who Code, we learned Python and the logic behind the code. This helped us tremendously when we started to build the app. We understood what we were doing and were able to apply the knowledge we learned in Girls Who Code to our application. The facilitators at Girls Who Code also helped us when we ran into any coding problems.

What do you hope to get out of participating in the program?

 

       PC: I hope to learn the steps involved in developing an app.

AZ: I hope to learn more about businesses and marketing. I am excited to apply classroom knowledge to a real world application.

 

Is there anything else you would like to share?

PC: My participation in Technovation has allowed me to understand how building an app might go in a professional workplace. This has been an enriching experience, and I have a better idea about the industry that I am interested in entering. Also, the mentorship provided by the facilitators from Girls Who Code has been critical for keeping the project moving along. They have taught me so much.