High School

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.

New for 2020! ChickTech High School: Virtual

With the onset of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, ChickTech has shifted our high school programming into a virtual space for the safety and well being of students, volunteers, and community members. ChickTech’s program will continue to offer hands-on workshops and group mentorship opportunities for young womxn in a different format as we enter the 2020/2021 school year.

Year-long programming began in November with monthly technical workshops and mentorship opportunities, which will culminate in a year-end conference, in June 2021, for our high school participants.

Students will have the opportunity to self-select into monthly workshops and group mentorship opportunities which will follow monthly themes:

Networks in November
Design December
Javascript January
Future Plans February
Math in March
Apps in April
Machines in May
Technology in June

Students will also have access to past virtual workshops and mentorships held in the spring and summer of 2020, including:

Technical Writing
The Science of Shoe Performance
Sustainable Product Engineering and Design
Coding
How to Have a Creative Career in Tech
How Extracurriculars Lead to Career Success
Marketing Yourself Online: Introduction to Creating a LinkedIn Profile

Whether you’re looking to explore new tech and STEM subjects, get involved with hands-on projects, or you’re interested in meeting STEM mentors and learning about career paths there’s something in our virtual programming for you!

If you are a young womxn (including gender non-conforming, non-binary, and transgender students) interested in registering for ChickTech’s Virtual High School program, please fill out our interest form by December 31, 2020.

If you are interested in volunteering for ChickTech’s Virtual High School program by leading a workshop or being a group mentor you can do that here.

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!