By Katherine Wijenaike-Bogle

10th Grade  

 

 

“A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for.”—Grace Hopper

 

This is one of my favorite quotes from the Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, a pioneer of modern computer science. Early this fall I had the pleasure of working with a group of students to create something that we think Admiral Hopper would approve of.

 

Back in March, I received a grant from the National Center for Women in Information Technology. Through this grant, I created a computer science class for local middle- and high-school girls, called Code to Action. My mentor at NCWIT encouraged me to use computer science to tackle a real-world problem. Eventually, I settled on voter awareness—since the internet is often used to spread misinformation, why not use the internet to try to solve this problem?

 

Our Code to Action class, held Friday and Saturday afternoons, made and published an app called InformNation, for voters in Washington State. InformNation helps Washington voters find candidates they truly want to vote for and identify misinformation when they see it. I was joined by Forest Ridge students Annie Corrin and Julie Gillis, Class of 2021, and the three of us hosted the class in the brand-new Center for Girls. I was so amazed by the passion and commitment of our class! The girls, both Forest Ridge and non-Forest Ridge students, were very enthusiastic about creating a product that would make voter awareness fast and easy.

 

Computer science is something that can and is changing the world, and I’m proud to have been part of this mission!