By Brianna Adkins
Women in S.T.E.M. are crucial to the survival of a thriving technological and ethical world. With the advancement of female coding organizations like Kode with Klossy, #BuiltByGirls, and Girls Who Code, each day is proving that females deserve to be included in the narrative, but you don’t have to ask them. They’re including themselves without permission.
Kode with Klossy scholars and Missouri natives, Savannah Grasmick, Kailin Zhang, Rosy Jackson, Hannah Shine, and Sophie Maniscalco, are all proof of this statement.
On Oct. 14 the group of five young women traveled to the Chaifetz Arena in order to get to the Global Hack 7 event. There the collective had the opportunity to compete for the coveted first prize in the youth division: 10,000 dollars.
According to the event’s website, the Global Hack 7 event gave the team the opportunity to work “collaboratively with industry experts to build tools, apps and platforms to improve experiences for foreign-born individuals in St. Louis and beyond.”
Savannah Grasmick, two-time Kode with Klossy scholar and HTML extraordinaire, explained that the hardest and most time-consuming part of all was getting started through “brainstorming.”
“Because of Kode with Klossy we are used to working under such tight time restraints, so we came up with an idea we knew we could finish well,” explained Grasmick. “We had girls working on editing the template, girls researching the languages to include, and [other girls searching for] information and resources we provided.”
“Because of Kode with Klossy we are used to working under such tight time restraints, so we came up with an idea we knew we could finish well.” -Savannah Grasmick
After much deliberation, planning, and idea cultivation, the group ended up creating a platform titled, communiTEEN Immigrants.
Rosy Jackson, front-end designer and HTML queen, cited that “communiTEEN immigrants is a platform to connect teenage immigrants to their communities once they’ve moved here, through providing education, job, faith, and recreation resources.”
“communiTEEN immigrants is a platform to connect teenage immigrants to their communities once they’ve moved here, through providing education, job, faith, and recreation resources.” -Rosy Jackson
The important platform was created over the span of a weekend, but each and every one of the scholars connected their brains in a cohesive group to create a functioning product in that time frame.
Hannah Shine, who developed the integration of Google Maps and numerous languages into the platform, spent a lot of her time dedicated to the “faith” page in order to help immigrant teens find communities they can find comfort in.
“The inspiration behind communiTEEN immigrants was to help young people just like us who are new to America,” Shine clarified. “We understand how hard it can be to find resources as American teens, so we wanted to make it an easier process for teenage immigrants.”
“The inspiration behind communiTEEN immigrants was to help young people just like us who are new to America. We understand how hard it can be to find resources as American teens, so we wanted to make it an easier process for teenage immigrants.” -Hannah Shine
Another scholar and team member, Sophie Maniscalco, also assisted in the integration of numerous languages into the platform. She aided in coding in six languages—English, Bosnian, German, Spanish, French, and Chinese—into the platform that are the “most common for immigrants in St. Louis.”
The passionate project, dedicated to bettering teenage immigrants, displayed how mindful the “S.T.E.M. femme” group really is. Overall, the highlight of the weekend for the group wasn’t winning the prize for their age group; it was the process that lead up to it.
“The highlight for me was working with my amazing friends to create an awesome website that helps teens who are immigrants,” explained Maniscalco. “We all worked so well together and I love all the girl power!”
"We all worked so well together and I love all the girl power!” -Sophie Maniscalco
Passionate and compassionate young women can make true social change, and these five Missouri teens did just that. With such a thoughtful platform with a targeted audience to inspire the community and those around them, the group snagged the first place prize of 10,000 dollars, proving that girls who uplift one another will always win in one way or another.
Kailin Zhang, two-time Kode with Klossy scholar, put her passion into words best when she cited that her “favorite part of developing our project was the idea that we were creating a web application that could actually make a difference in the world and could help improve the lives of teenage immigrants and help immigrants to establish that sense of community within a new country.”
“Code has the power to impact the world in a positive way, and I am so grateful to have been a part of such an amazing experience,” Zhang continued.
“Code has the power to impact the world in a positive way, and I am so grateful to have been a part of such an amazing experience." -Kailin Zhang
These young women are creating true social upward change and ethical mobility through their coding super powers. Don’t bother ignoring them, because they will always find a way to persist and create more change.
Watch them. Celebrate them. Encourage them. These young women are the future tech industry leaders and they’re writing their own stories with inclusive narratives. Remember their names—you’ll be seeing them again.