Coding Girls Engages Young Women to “Dream” across Southern Italy

Emily Thomforde, U.S. Code Educator e Science Technology Engineering Art and Mathematics (STEAM) Specialist

November 16-20, 2018

The fifth edition of Coding Girls—the national STEM education program sponsored by the U.S. Mission to Italy and Rome-based NGO Fondazione Mondo Digitale in collaboration with Microsoft Italy —held programs in Naples, Catania and, for the first time, Salerno.

Starting this year, the Coding Girls association, which has a network of over 25 hubs throughout Italy, has started new collaborations, not only with high-schools but also with several Italian Universities and private businesses who can now “adopt” a student and contribute directly to their success as they develop new STEM skills.

In Naples, more than 100 young women in 23 teams from four high schools participated in the event led by U.S. coach Emily Thomforde. After workshopping their ideas in their high schools, the students came together for the hackathon at the Apple Developer Academy of the University of Naples, Federico II, using “Scratch”, the online and free app provided by MIT. The theme of competition was “Dream.”