ChickTech: High School

ChickTech: High School is a year-long series of opportunities for 100 young women in each city, providing hands-on workshops, mentoring, and internship opportunities. It supplements traditional education and provides a supportive community for young women to learn how to create technology.

All of our High School workshops are hands-on so that participants come out of each with a sense of accomplishment and a burst of confidence. They remain engaged and learning through monthly workshops throughout the year. By increasing our participants’ self-confidence and interest in technology, we increase the number of girls who aspire to technology careers. This important work is shaping the workforce of tomorrow to have the diverse skills and perspectives needed for the industry to thrive.

What makes our program different?

Many young women do not reach their potential in STEM because they thought it was too difficult—or did not have role models in the field. A crucial aspect of our program is finding young women who would not otherwise have thought of themselves as capable of succeeding in a high tech career. We focus on recruiting girls who do not see themselves as technical but who have the aptitude to do very well in technical fields.

By asking educators, parents and friends to hand-select our participants, we are giving our participants a vote of confidence: people who know them and recognize their abilities have nominated them for this exclusive opportunity! Participants can choose to be paired with mentors and have the opportunity to go to regular workshops throughout the year.

We place additional emphasis on recruiting at-risk and low-income participants. Our program is free to participants. Transportation help and food are provided at all of our events; child care stipends are also available if needed.

Questions? Download our FAQs for Educators!

Workshops

Below are some examples of workshops led by our ChickTech: High School volunteers.

Robotics

In this workshop, participants learn how a sophisticated robot is built and programmed – while building and programming their own at your own pace! Participants learn how to write a program to make their robot move in simple or complex patterns, to sense and avoid obstacles, to flash LEDs either at random, in sequences, or as an indication of the control process.

And the best part, after the workshop concludes, the students get to take their finished robot home!

Soft Circuits

By teaming up with professional female engineers and using a Lilypad Arduino microcontroller, participants will transform a tote bag into an engineering marvel with some high-tech bling! Participants will learn programming and soldering basics to design, create, and program electronics that can sense inputs such as touch or light, and respond with outputs like sound or LEDs. Visit the Soft Circuits Kits Page to learn more!

Soft Circuits Kits

Smartphone App

There really is an app for everything! Apps to help you buy your groceries, check Facebook, read the news, play games, listen to music, and an endless amount of other things. Apps are really simple to make, and you can use your own creative idea to even come up with the next big thing! In this workshop, participants learn App Inventor, a program to create apps for Android phones – have a really fun weekend learning to build very own app!

3D Printing

Have you heard all the rage about 3D printing? From printing prosthetic arms to replacement hearts to fun toys, 3D printing has many applications in the real world. In our 3d Printing Workshop, participants will get a taste of what it’s like to design and print their own 3D object which they then get to take home to enjoy!