Our Fourth College Code Camp

Written by vanessa slavich.

In 12 hours, women engineering students programmed a web page that will help AIDS organization (RED) spread awareness of its mission. After one conversation with Vivienne Harr, the 10-year-old founder of Make a Stand, women engineering students were inspired to program the newly-launched Make a Stand app for global crowdfunding. Both accomplishments were outcomes of College Code Camp, our five-day, in-house immersion program that uses leadership sessions, coding workshops, and a hackathon, to bring together women engineering students and build a stronger community of women in technology.

After every Code Camp, we are always inspired by the confidence the young women exude and the projects they created during their time at Square, which show the endless possibilities of creating through code. We’ve fostered a community of nearly 70 young women who have participated in Code Camp, spanning more than 30 universities in the U.S. and Canada, and six San Francisco high schools.

Code Camp not only inspires, educates, and empowers the next generation of women in technology, but it also creates a strong, supportive community. Our previous Code Camps have been incredible:

• 96% of participants felt more empowered as a woman in technology after Code Camp

• 86% of participants believe Code Camp demonstrated how engineers can have a positive impact in the world

• 96% of participants believe that Code Camp is a strong, supportive community

• 82% of participants speak with other Code Camp alums on (at least) a monthly basis

Today, we once again invite college students to apply to our five-day College Code Camp at square.com/code-camp. The program will take place January 6–10 in San Francisco and will include leadership sessions, coding workshops, and a hackathon to build a stronger community of women in technology.

We look forward to meeting the most intelligent, inspiring, dynamic women, and growing our Code Camp community to nearly 100 young women.

vanessa slavich - Profile Diversity & Triathlonsmedium.com Square Code Camp Alumnae stories and experiencesmedium.com