Special to the Herald
Forty-eight high school girls from Orange and Seminole counties were recently celebrated for their technology projects at Tech Sassy Girlz Pearling Ceremony at the University of Central Florida’s Dr. Phillips Academic Commons in Downtown Orlando.
This Pearling Ceremony is held at the end of each Pearls in Tech cohort. The Pearling Ceremony is designed to celebrate the culmination of the students’ hard work and dedication in building their web development and artificial intelligence (AI) customization projects over the past several weeks. Students received certificates from Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer as well as pearl pins to signify their graduation from the program. They got to show off their projects to parents, friends, board members and elected officials like Florida State Representative Anna Eskamani.
“These students spent four weeks learning technical skills like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python and AI,” said Tech Sassy Girlz Founder Dr. Laine Powell. “We asked them to think about how they would solve a problem within their own community. So we have projects on homelessness, gun violence, substance abuse, hurricane preparedness, nursing and more.”
Pearls in Tech is designed to equip female juniors and seniors in high school with 21st-century digital and technical skills. All students participate in professional development workshops and take online courses through the Skillsoft Percipio platform to learn more about coding and design skills related to their pathway of choice. Upon completion of the program, students will have the opportunity to apply for tech and software development internships secured by Tech Sassy Girlz at companies around the Central Florida area.
“After I went through this program, I found out I really love coding,” said Pearls In Tech Graduate Love-Mika Brize. “That’s what made my decision to do software engineering in college. I love the way that I can control the computer’s outputs. I’m excited about creating new things and being a part of a growing tech field because it changes every day.”
Tech Sassy Girlz is the signature program of Collegiate Pathways, Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Orlando. Its mission is to empower middle and high school girls to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields through college preparation, career readiness, mentoring and entrepreneurship.
The program is designed to provide girls from grades 6–12 with exposure and access to the STEM fields through college preparation, career readiness, events, mentoring and hands-on learning experiences. They connect with women leaders in STEM-related fields, participate in workshops and technology tours, have the chance to network with industry professionals and intern with tech companies.
To learn more about Tech Sassy Girlz, please visit techsassygirlz.org
