Jason Parker is a freelance reporter for WRAL TechWire. In this article, he shares insight into the upcoming TechShop being hosted by the Capitol Women’s Network at WRAL. Jasson also shares exciting news about how TechGirlz is expanding in the Triangle region of North Carolina. The full article was originally published August 08, 2018 on WRAL TechWire.

The Newsroom Story Production Workshop is already full to capacity and runs the afternoon of Thursday, August 9, 2018, at WRAL-TV on Western Boulevard in Raleigh. Participants are rising sixth, seventh, and eighth grade girls from across the Triangle, said Lisa Chappell, an account executive at WRAL Digital Solutions and a member of The Capitol Women’s Network committee that is partnering to facilitate the event.

Participants will learn how to produce great stories in the same manner that modern collaborative newsrooms use to produce high-quality print, video, and digital content to tell effective and compelling stories, said Chappell.

“This will be a chance to impact a new generation of women,” said Chappell, “Storytelling is the basis of impactful media, from news articles to slideshows to videos.” Participants will even learn how to utilize mobile devices to produce photo and video content, and hear from a panel of women that fill a variety of roles in broadcasting.

TechGirlz works to make learning technology thrilling and inviting for middle school girls, said Alicia Park, the national outreach manager for TechGirlz, who will attend the workshop. “By helping young girls discover, embrace, and advance technology-related skills from a young age,” said Park, “TechGirlz is helping to empower future generations of women economically so they can find their voice.”

Nationwide, women filled 47 percent of all U.S. jobs in 2015, but held only 24 percent of STEM jobs, according to a 2017 report from the office of the chief economist in the U.S. Department of Commerce. The report also found that the gender wage gap is smaller in STEM jobs than in non-STEM jobs. And yet, the industry is forecast to be short by as many as one million workers by 2020, said Park. “These women will go on to fill the open jobs so desperately in need of talent today.”