Ingrid Harb has long known the importance of coding knowledge. She broke into the technology scene when she was 19 and, during the summer of 2020, began to see other teens follow in her advocacy footsteps.
"When the civil unrest happened, I saw a lot of teens trying to advocate and I saw a lot of myself in them," she said. "And I thought, the first thing I needed was a website, and they can be really expensive. So, I wanted them to learn the basics of software development."
Harb, the founder of Women Ambassadors Forum, created an offshoot called "Coding for a Change" that focused specifically on high school minority students looking to learn how to code. They each receive their own website and then build it out, focusing on a topic that they ultimately presented at the end of their cohort.
The second cohort, which has students from seven countries, presented their websites Friday, which ranged from anatomy to the Earth and its relationship with technology.
"For us, we wanted to help teens who didn't know where to start with something bigger," Harb said. "There were a lot were advocacy-based projects, but it was all very focused on culture and aligning sources to make things easier."
While other programs do offer coding for teens or free coding courses, rarely do the two intersect. The program also went beyond just teaching the students coding and was able to give each participant a certificate in website design, which the students can now tout when applying for jobs or schools.
"There are two aspects to this — one, is giving the network, the tools, certificate and belief in themselves that they can do what I did at that age," Harb said. "But also the second thing is giving them a glimpse into computer science and coding, so they do choose a career in STEM. A lot haven't had exposure to STEM at all before this. We're giving the kids the idea that, 'This is for you even if you don't feel like there's representation.' And I think that's where we're most excited."
The students' five-week course meets twice a week, for three-hour-long classes. There are also office hours, homework and guest speakers on Friday. Tampa-based Kforce is a sponsor of the program.
"By teaching teenagers these coding and technology skills, we can provide young innovators the tools they will need to succeed later in life,” Kforce COO Kye Mitchell said in a statement. “We support any chance we have to help young people reach their potential.”
Harb is hopeful the program will be able to eventually work with companies like Kforce to offer an internship arm through Coding for a Change. She is also hopeful to launch a separate coding camp for refugees.
"This just has so much potential and there is so much need for this space," she said. "I didn't realize how much need there was until we launched it."
