Speech given by Katia, TechGirl Alumna, at the Inaugural Business Women’s Social Hour and TechGirlz Fundraiser on October 14, 2014.

My name is Katia and I go to Pennsbury High School in Yardley, PA.  I first got involved in TechGirlz in the 7th grade.  I’ve attended their HTML coding class and their Entrepreneur Summer Camp in 2013.

The Summer Camp was my favorite.  We got to make our own app and pitch ideas to see if the concept was marketable.  My idea was “Where’d it go” an app that helps you keep track of items that are easily lost like keys, wallets, etc. It was a cool program because I got to see my idea be put to use in real life and I learned about design. We talked to web coders to see what ideas could be incorporated and learning about the design showed a whole other side of things that made it a lot more appealing to me as a girl.

From TechGirlz, I learned that:

•         I was good at technology even though I’m a girl
•         It doesn’t have to be a “boys club”
•         It’s a good tool for making the world a better place
•         It’s not something that just geeky guys do

This year, I’m taking a web coding class and a pre-engineering class in school.

I’m one of 3 girls in pre-engineering and one of 4 girls in my web coding class.  My HTML course is a little boring, because of the way it’s being taught.  I wish TechGirlz taught high school classes.

I don’t like that there aren’t many girls in my technology classes in high school, but I refuse to limit my horizons because the tech world is dominated by men.

In the future, I think technology will do outstanding things. I want to be a surgeon.  I think technology and medicine together can make amazing advances.  I know that 3D printers may be used one day to print up organs for transplant in humans.  And they’ve got EKG apps on smartphones right now. I hope to make this happen.