The Code Like a Girl Team (L to R): Billy Fan, Cheryl Forman, Ryan Goldfarb, Mahbuba Ferdousi, Lavonne Smith, Stephanie Moncada, Daphne Orr, and Karla Fields.

Members of the Oxford College Information Technology (OCIT) staff participated in Code Like a Girl Day on December 5, 2018. Newton County Schools hosted Code Like a Girl Day across its schools to enable more women to learn about technology and the impact coding has on everyday life. The event took place in Covington, GA, during the nationally recognized Computer Science Week.

Mahbuba Ferdousi, CIO of Oxford College of Emory University, taught Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to 5th, 8th and 11th graders to begin building their digital portfolio. Several Oxford staff and students helped her with two one-hour sessions of 50-60 students per session. They were: Karla Fields, Billy Fan, Cheryl Forman, Ryan Goldfarb, Stephanie Moncada, Daphne Orr and Lavonne Smith.

Continuing the celebration of National Computer Science Week

The following day, thirty-two high school students from Ms. Carla Esguerra’s computer science classes at the Newton College and Career Academy visited Oxford’s campus. The Newton County School System Instructional Technology team worked with Laura Gafnea, Oxford College Director of Community Relations, to plan the students’ activities and schedule. Students took a campus tour led by student tour guides Sid Chandresekar and Noah Taylor and participated in an interactive class session on computer coding language, led by Paul Oser. Following the class and tour, students ate lunch in the dining hall, where they shared fun facts they learned throughout the morning.

OCIT members are proud to engage the community of Newton County in academic endeavors and they cannot wait for the next opportunity for public engagement.

[Ed. Note: Laura Gafnea also contributed to this story.]