Computer Camp -- For Girls Only!!

Purpose of the Camp

A Web-based computer camp "For Girls Only" (7th - 10th grade) was proposed for the Philadelphia and Central New Jersey regions.  The campers would use HTML and JavaScript programming to learn basic computer concepts, while permitting individual creative exploration and development of Web pages.  The female orientation was intended to assist in encouraging girls (currently vastly under-represented in Computer Science and Engineering) to consider computer-related career goals.  Interactive multimedia design, including graphics, animation, and digital audio, would be stressed.  Computer fundamentals, such as word processing and basic understanding of hardware systems, would be overviewed.  Campers would be assigned female mentors to communicate with them via email and chat rooms during the camp week.  Parental guidance software and camp RA's would be used to assist in assuring appropriate Web content and interactions.

The goal of the camp was to have each girl create a personal Home Page for presentation in August 1999 at the Electronic Schoolhouse session of the SIGGRAPH (Computer Graphics) conference (Los Angeles, CA) sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery.  The girls would have an opportunity to remotely interact with other student conference participants via their Web pages.

A variety of settings for the camp were considered, including a science center, various colleges, and even the possibility of having it in cyberspace rather than an actual physical location.  During this investigation, the New Jersey Institute of Technology's (NJIT) Senior FEMME program emerged as an appropriate match for the Web programming activities within the context of a female mentoring setting.  The Web design project was thus incorporated into the Mount Laurel FEMME and offered at NJIT's Burlington County Technology and Engineering Center during July of 1999.

More formal information about the project can be found through these links:

 SIGGRAPH 1999 Electronic Schoolhouse Paper

 SIGGRAPH 1999 Slides
(Click on SIGGRAPH logo to go to next slide, Girl logo to go to previous slide)

Due to the success of this project, future offerings are being considered.  For further information about enrollment contact:

Rebecca Mercuri
 mercuri AT acm DOT org
609/587-1886

Or submit the following form information:

Name: 
Address: 
City:         State:     Zip: 
Email:         Telephone: 
Age of Camper:     Prior Computer Background: 
Comments:
     

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