Aardra R. | Greensboro, North Carolina

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 North Carolina Affiliate Award Winner
The Early College at Guilford

Aardra is very passionate about her ongoing research in computational chemistry in conjunction with Guilford College’s chemistry department. She looks at HIV antigen-antibody complexes using Visual Molecular Dynamics modeling software. Aardra has also been a part of her school’s FIRST Robotics Team 1533 for the past four years, serving as both the Strategy and Statistics Department Head and the Vice President/Outreach Coordinator. Her passion for STEM inspired her to learn programming languages such as Java and C++ independently. She is also proficient in using Autodesk 3ds Max animation and visualization software. In the summer of 2011, Aardra attended the Engineering Experience Program at MIT for computer science and developed applications for Android devices using Google App Inventor. She believes she can make a positive difference in the world through her involvement in research--specifically with regards to and robotics, biological processes and haptic technology.  Aardra will pursue Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with a concentration in nanotechnology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Abria H. | Henderson, North Carolina

2011 North Carolina Affiliate Award Winner
Northern Vance High School

When Abria isn't making animations, videos, or editing photos, you can find Abria playing video games with her father, who inspired her to stay active in technology. Abria will be attending college at North Carolina State University starting this summer. She will be majoring in Animal Sciences and minoring in Game Design. She would like to find or start a group to do projects and work with animations and game designs.

Ada T. | Durham, North Carolina

2010 National Award Winner
Durham Academy

Ever since her father gave Ada her first Lego RCX robotics kit, she has been hooked. Her love for robotics, programming, and computer software can be seen in the ways that she helps better her community in its awareness of technology. Ada has participated in many programs related to science, math, engineering, and technology at her school and at Duke University. Her fluency in many different programming languages has helped her in many projects, including one in which she rebuilt computers to give back to the community.

In the future Ada hopes to attend MIT and study electrical engineering and computer science.

Aida S. | Snellville, Georgia

2011 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Brookwood High School

Aida is a senior at Brookwood High School. She believed that technology has always been a part of her everyday life, but it was her AP Computer Science class that brought about her ongoing interest in computing and technology. As Secretary of the Computer Science Club of the Future Business Leaders of America, her involvement has easily branched out further. In their meetings once a week, they work with Greenfoot and the HerSkit Performance Editor for programming PLEO robots. A fun fact about Aida is that one of her favorite past times is reading any and all genres. Her next step is to continue her computing education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with several more learning and research opportunities. I especially hope to be able to study abroad.

Aimee L. | Chicago, Illinois

2008 National Award Winner
University of Chicago Laboratory High School

Aimee Lucido is interested in restoring old games that do not work on today’s operating systems. Games, such as the Oregon Trail and Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon, are the reason she is interested in computers: the plot, the dialogue, the graphics and even the background music. Her goal is to create the “perfect” video game. She hopes to attend a liberal arts school with a top computer science program. She is applying to Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Yale and Brown where she would like to major in Computer Science and be active in the music and English programs.

Ala'a T. | Dearborn, Michigan

2012 National Award Winner
Fordson High School

Ala’a is intrigued by all that coding is, from the beginning stages of planning to the final product. The accomplishment she is most proud of is creating a GUI (Graphical User Interface) using NetBeans that allows easier scheduling for students and administrators at her school. Ala’a plans to present this GUI at the Dearborn Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology annual science fair. As a freshman in high school, Ala’a lead a team in the Internet Science and Technology Fair Website Competition. The group created a website about Downs Syndrome. Ala’a is proficient in PHP, CSS, HTML, jGRASP, Java, Applets, and some Ajax. She plans to attend a university to study computer science in order to create complex programs for companies or to become a game programmer to create video games.

Aleis M. | Greensboro, North Carolina

2011 North Carolina Affiliate Award Winner
Northern Guilford High School

Aleis took an online AP Computer Science course her Sophomore year, and has cultivated her computing interests ever since. Last summer, she participated in a project with Duke University, which is where she plans to attend in the Fall of 2011. Aleis has also been swimming competitively for 9 years.

Alexa A. | Modesto, California

2010 National Award Winner
James C. Enoch High School

Alexa is an alumnus of a special four-year program at her high school that prepares students for careers in forensics or biotechnology. She participated in Preparing Women for Mathematical Modeling-Robotics at California State University, Stanislaus, and an OpenCourse programming class provided by MIT. She served as head programmer on her high school’s robotics team, which attended VEX Robotics World Championships in Dallas, Texas in 2009, where they placed 13th out of 276 teams in the Programming Skills Challenge. They also attended VEX World Championships in Orlando, Florida in 2011.  Alexa was also an active member of her high school's Science Olympiad team.

Alexa accepted an Aspirations Award scholarship and applied it to her education at the University of California at Davis, where she is currently seeking an undergraduate degree in Biotechnology. A member of the Community Outreach and C-STEM club on campus, Alexa continues to emphasize the importance of STEM. Her passion for service is evident in her position as Freshman Recruitment Chair on the Planning Committee for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life at UC Davis. Alexa's own experiences with cancer and her love for science fuel her goals to apply her tech background to cancer research. 

Alexandra O. | Dubuque, Iowa

2010 National Award Winner
Dubuque Senior High School

Alexandra is most interested in robotics in relation to NASA. She attended the Summer Opportunity in Aeronautics for High School Scholars (SOAR) at NASA’s Langley Research Institute where she participated in hands-on, interactive, aeronautics-related challenges including aeronautics design projects, flight simulation software, model aircraft and rocketry, scientific ballooning, and wind funnel tests; her team won a trophy for its final project presentation. This summer, Alexandra has been accepted to the NASA INSPIRE resident internship and she is an active participant in NASA’s OLC (online learning community).

Alexandra is a member of the Computer Science/Robotics Club at Loras College, where she also takes college classes to keep herself challenged academically. She plans a career in artificial intelligence and robotics.

Alexandra P. | Albuquerque, New Mexico

2012 National Award Runner-Up
La Cueva High School

Alexandra began programming in middle school with a brief summer course on Java. She was so excited by it that she used it for her science fair project where she won first place in Computer Science at region and state science fairs. Alexandra has won top of category at the regional science fair and was a finalist at the International Science and Engineering Fair.  She also won 3rd place and a creativity award at the New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge, 2nd at the regional science fair, and 2nd in category at the state science fair. She has served as treasurer, and as vice president for the Science Olympiad team at her school.  She has also participated in the New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge and has volunteered at the National Museum of Nuclear Science in History as counselor for their summer classes.  Alexandra wants to study computer science in college and pursue a PhD.  She would also like to start her own company to develop new technologies.

Alexandria P. | Loveland, Colorado

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Loveland High School

Alexandria truly discovered the world of computing in high school after joining her schools Webmasters club. While part of this club, Alexandria helped to work on the school’s website and keep it up to date. A year later, she went on to join the school’s FIRST robotics team. Being a part of a robotics team helped Alexandria to realize her passion was not building the robot but was the programming of the robot. Now she has gone on to spend time outside of the robotics club, and outside of school to teach herself more about programming. Alexandria strives to attend Carnegie Mellon and make a career in programming robots.

Alexandria M. | Longwood, Florida

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Lake Brantley High School

Although this is Alexandria’s first year in an official computer science class, she has accomplished a large amount of work in the computer field. This past year, she created the first-ever website for her school newspaper in which she prepared the HTML code for the entire website. She’s fluent in InDesign and Photoshop and she used these skills to make the website possible. She is also a member of her school’s Robotics team and Women’s Computer Science Outreach Club, both of which are planning to teach computer science to local elementary schools and nursing homes. Alexandria wants to take a double major in Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science and proceed to medical school.

Alexis G. | Jacksonville, Florida

2009 National Award Winner
Edward H. White Senior High

Recently, Alexis’ school started a Business and Career Academy offering numerous classes incorporating business software and computer science. She participated in her high school’s Botball Club, where she builds and programs. In her free time, Alexis works on a website dedicated to the care and well-being of animals. Alexis is interested in robotics and experiments with small robots.

Alexis is attending the University of North Florida.

Alexis F. | Honolulu, Hawaii

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Sacred Hearts Academy

Alexis began her technological journey in seventh grade when she joined her school’s FIRST Lego League. She then moved on to taking computing courses and mentoring the junior high FLL team while in high school. Alexis joined the FIRST Robotics team her freshman year and during her second year on the team, she helped program the robot to tele-operate. Alexis still mentors younger robotics teams and is a part of the VEX Robotics team.  She is also a student in the first ever Digi Engineering class and an all-girls robotics team, Cyber Patriot. Alexis stays involved in her school as a classroom senator and as a teacher’s aide for a summer school science class. Alexis aspires to attend college and major in something software based.

Alexis L. | Houston, Texas

2012 National Award Runner-Up
CY-Fair High School

Alexis began her computing career in her sophomore year of high school when she took a Computer Science course. There she was introduced to Java in the second semester and she programmed a Brick Breaker styled game with some twists using a program called Scratch. Alexis worked through many bugs in her code and when she came out from it, she realized that she would have a promising future in the field of computing and technology. She plans to complete her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in computer science from college and later go onto work for a couple of reputable technology companies as a software engineer.

Allison A. | Allen, Texas

2010 National Award Winner
Texas Academy of Math and Science

Allison was first drawn to programming by its clear connection to mathematics. Having first learned HTML through a summer camp, she went on to learn Javascript, CSS, basic PHP, C++, and Flash. She applied her knowledge to create a Flash-based program that promoted the basic subjects in school — math, english, science, and history — a project that qualified her as a finalist in the Invention Convention competition.

Through a summer program, Allison visited Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, where she took classes, toured the facility, and shadowed an employee. As an active member of the Girl Scouts, Allison has encouraged younger girls to pursue careers in technology.

Allison G. | Sugar Land, Texas

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Clements High School

Allison is a senior at Clements High school where is a member of National Honor Society, president of French National Honor society, vice-president of French Club, and recycling coordinator of the school’s environmental awareness club, Clements Earth.  She also volunteers with SIRE, which is a program that provides therapeutic horseback riding for people with disabilities.  Her love of computers was passed down to her from her father, who worked as an IT manager.  The first time that she realized she wanted to work with computers for a living was when she was able to create a game where you could draw your own constellation by clicking on a telescope after watching a short animation of the North Pole. Her favorite aspect of computer science is programming, she wants to eventually design programs that fix errors in order to help people’s lives run smoothly.  As Allison said, “Time is a sparse commodity in the world today, and the less time wasted trying to fix problems that shouldn’t exist to begin with, the more time is available to achieve incredible feats.”

Allyn F. | East Point, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Greater Atlanta Adventist Academy

Allyn was mostly interested in graphic arts, but she has also taken time to teach herself about all aspects of a computer. Her family and friends see Allyn as the go to person for all computer problems. One of Allyn’s greatest accomplishments was being selected as a runner-up for the NCWIT Georgia Affiliate in 2010, another achievement of hers was getting first place for the NCWIT Haiku contest. Allyn puts her knowledge to work by helping other students in school as well as within her church community by creating a digital newsletter and helping to fix the church computers. After high school Allyn has decided she wants to attend Georgia Tech and graduate with a bachelor’s degree of science in computer engineering and then go onto to obtaining her master’s degree as well.

Allyson P. | Douglasville, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 and 2011 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
New Manchester High School

Allyson has always been fascinated by computers, and after attending the Microsoft Digigirlz camp, she realized that she would like to pursue a career in a computing field. As a freshman in high school, Allyson demonstrated her computer skills as a member of Future Business Leaders of America. During the regional conference, she won first place in the word processing category. Following the contest, Allyson was asked to be a student teacher in her Introduction to Computing class.

Allyson's eyes were opened to the need for women in technology after winning the Georgia Affiliate of the 2010 NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Award. Since that time, Allyson has been engrossed with learning as much as she can about technology, and the opportunities that exist in the field. She learned to develop applications for Android cell phones while attending the ICE Camp at Georgia Tech during the summer. She also developed a golf application using Google App Inventor. As a member of Georgia Tech's Computing Club, Allyson and her partner designed a prototype jacket that uses Arduino technology, and is working to obtain a patent. Their invention won first place in AT&T's Spirit of Innovation Face-Off. The officers of AT&T's IT organization were so impressed with the presentation that they committed $50,000 to introduce Arduino technology to other students in Atlanta area schools. Their success resulted in an invitation to present the prototype at the Tennessee Women in Computing Conference. They won first place and earned a scholarship to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference.

Following graduation, Allyson plans to major in Computer Engineering.

Alveena J. | Lawrenceville, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology

Alveena went to a high school that focused around technology, science, and math. She has learned everything including Microsoft office, Autodesk Inventor, AutoCAD, Revit Architecture, Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop, Java, NetBeans, Alice, Scratch, and ROBOTC. Alveena is currently taking AP Computer Science where she is learning to create programs and websites. With her skills, she created a website that helped Spanish I and II kids by teaching the students’ basic words and phrases and included flashcards, quizzes, and games. Alveena is currently an intern at CISCO working on HD set-top boxes and testing to see if the channels are programmed correctly, and if they are ready for distribution. Alveena wants to continue pursuing computer science as a major in college.

Alyssa H. | Parker, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Chaparral High School

Alyssa credits Pixar’s Finding Nemo as one of her inspirations in pursuing an interest in technology. She is most interested in animation and graphic design; she is an artist on paper as well as on the computer. Her scientific animations received first place awards in the 2009 and 2010 Technology Student Association annual conference in the scientific visualization category. The first visualization was in Flash, called “Earth vs. Global Warming”; the second was “Fireworks” created in Maya. Alyssa is the Vice President of her school’s TSA chapter. Independent of her work with TSA, she has also helped produce a film for a local soldier.

Alyssa plans to study Fine Arts with a concentration in Animation at the University of Colorado, Denver. Her ultimate goal is to be a character animator for Pixar Animation Studios.

Alyssa B. | Englewood, New Jersey

2010 National Award Winner
Bergen County Academies

Alyssa has taken many computing courses and has become certified in several Cisco programs through her Computer Science/Technology Academy. She has participated in many American Computer Science League competitions and won a national award in the 2007 Oracle Academy Data Modeling Competition.

Alyssa has used her leadership skills to help found groups such as CompSciFamilies, which hosts regular events with guest speakers from the computer science and technology fields; and Computer Science Students Day, which is a breakfast mentoring event for students interested in learning about academic and professional opportunities in computing.

Alyssa L. | Roswell, Georgia

2011 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Centennial High School

Alyssa is a senior at Centennial High School. She is most interested in the possibility of computer-brain interaction. She wants to research the ways that a person's brain can synchronize and give commands to a computer without having to use tools like controllers or a mouse. She’s particularly interested in the way this can be applied to prosthetic limbs. Her curiousity also spans as to how this can also be applied to various video game technologies to create more realistic virtual reality games and simulations. A fun fact about Alyssa is she likes to design and sew splay costumes for conventions. Her future plans are, I quote: “Georgia Tech, of course!”

Amalya M. | Teaneck, New Jersey

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Teaneck High School

Amalya’s father first suggested that she take a computer science class at school. Her greatest technical accomplishment is completing a two-year course of study covering Visual Basic. She is currently the student representative to the Board of Education at her school.

Amalya plans to attend college and study science and the arts, and reports that taking computer science classes have really made her consider a career in computer science. 

Amanda B. | Paola, Kansas

2011 National Award Winner
Paola High School / Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science

At 16, Amanda moved 250 miles from home to attend KAMS (Kansas Academy for Math & Science), a two-year early college-entry program for high school juniors and seniors, and she will be a part of KAMS' first graduating class in 2011. Amanda's passion for KAMS has inspired her to be an advocate for continued funding for the academy, and she visits her state capitol to encourage legislation in support of this. She's proficient in Photoshop, InDesign, and web design including HTML. Amanda was a member of her high schools robotics team, contributing more so as an engineer than a programmer. She says, "I liked to think of how the robot would be most efficient for the game, instead of how we could actually make it do that."

In addition to her challenging academic schedule, Amanda works on a college level research project involving researching web and graphic design technologies for the Paola Tourism Association. She receives college credit for her work at KAM S and plans to study computer science and information technology when she enters college in the fall.

Amanda W. | Bentonville, Arkansas

2011 Arkansas/Northeastern Oklahoma Affiliate Award Winner
Bentonville High School

At the end of her junior year, Amanda scored a 5 on the AP Computer Science test. She has also taken Programming 1 and Pre-AP Programming 2. Amanda credits her father for influencing her interest in computing. She also enjoys following tiny creatures around in her backyard to get a perfect macro picture.

Amanda’s intended career is in computer systems analysis and she would like to continue her knowledge in computer programming.

Amanda V. | Ocoee, Florida

2010 Florida Affiliate Award Winner
Ocoee High School

Amanda discovered her love of computer programming through exploring classes such as Engineering, AP Physics, AP Computer Science, and AP Calculus. Especially through her engineering projects, Amanda was able to get hands-on experiences with technology by making Lego robots, bridges, and monster cars. She is a member of her school computer science team, the Student Government Association, and the National Honor Society.

Outside of school Amanda teaches beginning dance classes, putting to use the dedication and patience she has learned through years of solving programming and technology challenges.

Amanda H. | El Paso, Texas

2011 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Chapin High School

Amanda is enthralled by robotics and programming. She has enrolled in several engineering courses to prepare herself for a career in technology. She demonstrates leadership in computing through her school's Technology Student Association chapter. She is the co-vice president of her school’s TSA chapter, and helps students prepare for their competitions. She competes in imaging technology, extemporaneous presentation, and music production. She is also a general member of National Honor Society, and a youth coach for the Ft. Bliss Child and Youth Services.

Amanda K. | Denver, Colorado

2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Thomas Jefferson High School

Amanda was first inspired to explore computer science as a freshman by enrolling in a computer magnet class. It was here where Amanda first discovered how much fun computers can be. Ms. Koziol has used her knowledge in computing to create a website for a local, neighborhood business from scratch. Amanda is also quite active in sports and plays golf regularly and also runs on her high school’s Cross Country team. She is also active in student government  and serves as a member of her Student Council and the National Honor Society. Amanda aspires to study physics after graduating from high school.

Amber G. | El Paso, Texas

2010 National Award Winner
Captain John L. Chapin High School

As a student in the Pre-Engineering Magnet Program at her high school, Amber has taken specific courses that have given her a love of programming, especially designing and creating circuit boards, loops, robotics programming, and Flash Actionscripting. Amber mentors younger students in the Pre-Engineering Magnet Program, helping them with their homework and to understand the technology. She also participated in the Summer Leadership Seminar at West Point Military Academy.

As an active member of National Honor Society, Amber has participated in Race for the Cure, Special Olympics, and Non-Commissioned Officers Wives’ Club Bazaar.

Amber B. | Uhrichsville, Ohio

2011 Ohio Affiliate Award Winner
Claymont High School

Advancements in technology have inspired Amber to become interested in computer science. From the iPod to the newest computers, technology has always made her interested to learn more about how computers work and to pursue her aspirations in computing. Amber entered the design competition for the Tuscarawas County Courthouse using AutoCAD. She came in 5th place.

Amber would like to go to college in Ohio, majoring in architecture. She was recently nominated for the National Honor Society.

Amy F. | Fortville, Indiana

2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
Mount Vernon High School

Amy has worked on many projects involving technology with her father since 1st grade. She explored mass media communication processes including radio and television broadcasting, publishing and printing activities, telecommunication networks, recording services, and computer and data processing networks in an advanced communications course.

Amy is also involved in cheerleading, track & field, student council, yearbook and the National Honor Society and maintains a 4.0 GPA.

Amy W. | Portland, Oregon

2012 National Award winner, 2011 and 2010 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner, 2010 Portland Affiliate Award Winner
Riverdale High School

Amy first became interested in computer science after becoming a member of the FIRST Lego League Team in middle school, and the interest grew from there. She is an active member in FIRST Robotics, and she recently went to the world finals in Atlanta, Georgia with her team for the second year in a row. She is proud of her thorough understanding of CAD and her ability to teach others about it, as well as her ability to program using Labview. Amy interned at Autodesk during the summer of 2011, and while she was there she worked with the CAD programs to find errors and identify what changes should be made for the next release. Amy has helped mentor and lead several LEGO Robotics teams, is a member of the National Honor Society, Science Bowl Team, and the Science Olympiad. She aspires to go to college to double major in computer science and mechanical engineering in order to pursue digital design engineering, coding, or software engineering.

Amy R. | Walople, Massachusetts

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Massachusetts Academy for Math and Science School

Not only does Amy incorporate robotics and computer science into her life every day at school but she also dedicates copious amounts of time to her passion outside of school. Amy has helped design, create, and complete six different robots since her freshmen year. One of the robots was a minibot designed to reach the top of a 12 foot pole in 1.2 seconds. Amy has had the privilege of being co-captain of her schools robotics team for two years and tries to improve the group every year. As co-captain, one of her goals is to help the focus of the team be on the high school students not on the college mentors. As an intern for the Mechanical Product Development department at Bose, Amy helped to model a dock for an iPad. After focusing on her high school time on robotics Amy plans to receive her Bachelors of Science in mechanical engineering along with a degree in applied mathematics.

Ana P. | Oakland, California

2011 National Award Winner, 2011 Bay Area Affiliate Award Winner
Oakland Unity High School

Ana became interested in computer science and engineering through her high school, Oakland Unity High School. She has demonstrated her interest in information technology by her participation in Techbridge program for three years. Ana also attended the Smith College summer program where she built her own website and constructed a functioning model Ferris wheel. In the future, Ana plans to double major in computer science and civil engineering.

Andrea L. | Woodside , California

2009 National Award Winner
Harker School

Andrea participated in the First Lego League Robotics Competitions in 2003, 2004 and 2005. She was the team leader for two years and has also been a technical leader. As the technical leader, Andrea trained freshmen, managed the project and contributed to the technical aspects of the robot. Andrea received the State Award in Innovative Programming and has developed a website for training the FRC Mechanical Team.

Andrea is studying Computer Science and Mathematics at MIT. One day, she hopes to improve the computational models of protein folding to cure diseases, such as Cystic Fibrosis.

Andrea R. | El Paso, Texas

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Winner, 2011 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Runner-Up
J.M. Hanks High School

Andrea has worked on a Computer Based Stress Level Detector as well as four smaller engineering projects with Dr. Homer Nazeran at the University of Texas at El Paso. She has also had the opportunity to work with Dr. Ceberio and a group of her students of the Computer Science Department. Through this program, Andrea decided to build a robotic arm that would move similarly to the human arm and researched various ways to achieve this using inverse kinematic methods such as Cyclic Coordinate Descent (CCD) and the Jacobian matrix. Andrea hopes to improve her skills in programming with the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) as well as gain some more teaching experience. Andrea would like to thank her parents for their support of her dreams and Mr. Ismail Turel for being an amazing professor, robotics coach and mentor. She hopes to study biomedical engineering at MIT or Columbia University and conduct research in biomedical engineering and medicine after she has earned her Masters or PhD.

Angelika M. | Cincinnati, Ohio

2011 Ohio Affiliate Award Winner
Clark Montessori School

Angelika’s mother encouraged her to pursue computer science. Last summer, she interned with City of Cincinnati's Information Technology Department. She created a web page for future interns on how to maximize work productivity and places to eat during lunch. Angelika is also writing a year-long senior research paper on why women are underrepresented in information technology.

Angelika plans to pursue a degree in information technology from the University of Cincinnati's College of Engineering and Applied Science. 

Anika P. | Boulder, Colorado

2009 National Award Winner
Fairview High School

Anika was a member of the FIRST Robotics Team and collaborates with a group of engineers from the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics. She volunteered at The Women’s Wilderness Institute, and managed the organization’s data with a Microsoft Access database. Anika has led an independent research project about the mountain pine beetle epidemic. She carried out remote sensing analysis to determine areas at risk for becoming infected. Anika was also the Merit Badge Counselor for Forestry, Soil and Water Conservation and Environmental Studies at the Ben Delatour Scout Ranch.

Anika is enrolled at Harvard University and is putting her previous research to good use by studying Environmental Engineering and Earth and Planetary Science. 

Anita L. | Sunnyvale, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
The King's Academy

Anita expressed her interest and wide knowledge of math and computer science at the age of eleven when she took the AP Calculus BC and received a 5, then at the age of twelve when she took the AP Computer Science Exam and received another 5. After taking these tests and others Anita became a College Board AP Scholar with Distinction before starting high school. Taking the AP Computer Science exam opened Anita eye’s to the clear domination of boys in this field and she took it to heart by creating a website to help girls become more interested in the AP Computer Science exam.  Outside of her studies Anita also volunteers at the Organization of Special Need Families where she helps teach autistic children how to use computers. Anita sets her goals high as she hopes to be a technology ambassador by bringing excellent tools to the neediest people in every corner the world and to be a technology implementer by utilizing what she has learned to build systems that make a difference for people with special needs.

Anita C. | Salem, Oregon

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Sprague High School

When Anita was a freshman, she accidently enrolled in a Computer Science course and fell in love with programming. During a summer of high school, Anita was chosen to do an internship at Oregon State University where she worked with two professors and several other students to help develop a method of testing an algorithm's accuracy in identifying the segments within an image. She helped develop a game that would test players’ ability to segments within an image and then compare those results to the algorithm.  Anita was in charge of researching which games were most popular and psychologically appealing to players. The project was the presented at the ASE Symposium. Outside of her technology classes, Anita has been the viola principle in her school’s orchestra in which she had to lead her section many times. In the future, Anita plans to pursue a degree in Computer Science.

Ann C. | Belmont, Massachusettes

2009 National Award Winner
Montrose School

Ann has been active in bringing computing education to her school by discussing its importance and arranging for a female MIT graduate student to speak on computer science, machine learning and artificial intelligence. In the summer of 2008, Ann attended classes in electrical engineering, computer science and discrete math through the Women’s Technology Program at MIT. Through these classes, Ann wrote a program to control a robot player in a computer version of the card game UNO.

In 2008, Ann was a Rensselaer Medalist and received a Society of Women Engineers award for excellence in math and science. After high school, Ann plans to study Computer Science and Education.

Ann M. | Houston, Texas

2011 Houston Affiliate Award Winner
Episcopal High School

Ann's father Charles, an engineer, and Ann's sister Katy, a chemist, are the people that influenced her the most in the area of computing. Both of them are supportive and continue to increase her knowledge. Ann is excited to have the opportunity to work on innovative solutions to problems and be at the cutting edge of technology. She hopes to become involed in creating new technology which will change the world, and to become a mentor to many girls and women.

In addition to computing, Ann enjoys volunteering, writing, and teaching. 

Ann Lyndon G. | Charlotte, North Carolina

2011 North Carolina Affiliate Award Winner
Charlotte Latin School

Aside from dancing, Ann Lyndon loves being involved in the computing world. She can see herself creating new programs that would improve daily life. She will be attending college, and would like to design websites and any application which allows her to explore her own creativity.

Anna M. | Issaquah, Washington

2010 National Award Winner
Sammamish Senior High School

Anna has been very involved in her school and local community. She is VP of community outreach for the Student Research and Development Club, which shares materials and guidance with local students who are interested in technology-related projects. She also works at a community center to help the elderly with computer literacy. At school she is involved with the programming club and the Physettes club, a club which encourages young women to explore opportunities in STEM fields.

In the future Anna hopes to be more involved in technology that deals with medicine, having a special interest in biotechnologies and neurorobotics.

Anugraha R. | Tualatin, Oregon

2010 Portland Affiliate Award Winner
Tualatin High School

Anugraha is most interested in projects involving programming, robotics, physics, gaming technologies, and web design. She is inspired by the potential impact of quantum computing on the future and is currently working on a research project to create more efficient gates for quantum computing. Anugraha has participated in many technologyrelated programs, including IBM’s EXCITE camp, as a volunteer for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, and her school’s FIRST Robotics Team. She received a scholarship for her enthusiasm in science and technology and an internship at Oregon Health Sciences University.

However, she is most proud of completing a C++ programming class at Portland State University for college credit during her freshman year of high school. She plans to study computer science and software engineering in the future.

Apoorva D. | Fremont, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Mission San Jose High School

Since elementary school Apoorva has been taking online courses for web design, Alice Programming, and Java. Apoorva was selected for the math and science program COSMOS, received a 5 on the AP Computer Science Exam, and has participated with robotics teams since she was 12. For her FIRST Robotics team she has been Safety Captain, is currently Build Division Leader, and serves as the team captain for her school’s FIRST FTC team. Apoorva is also the president of her school’s Technology and Robotics Club. At every stage of creating and building robots with these teams, Apoorva is involved and dedicated. Apoorva has high aspirations, going into college she plans to major in computer science with an emphasis on robotics and minor in game design, with eventually receiving her PhD in artificial intelligence.

Arezu E. | Stony Brook, New York

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Winner
R.C. Murphy High School

Arezu’s interest in technology began at home, with the encouragement of her parents. Her parents were instrumental in increasing her awareness of different computer topics by providing her with the necessary computer equipment to achiever her goals. They also enrolled her in several computer courses, workshops, and camps. Arezu’s greatest technical accomplishment to date is using IMovie and Final Cut software to film, create, and edit mock newscasts and music videos. She is passionate about expressing her interest in computers through creative design, audio, and video production. 

Arezu is considered to be a well-rounded student who aspires to attend George Washington University to study to become a surgeon.

Ari O. | San Leandro, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
San Leandro High School

As a young girl Ari was intrigued with computer science, robotics and programming. At the age of thirteen she had hand coded a website and helped to start a business club at her school. Ari also began to create company logos on Photoshop and Illustrator. She has recently created pixel-art for her brother’s online “FruitBots” game and started working on website themes and “widget styles” for her dad’s company. Her greatest accomplishment so far has been the creation of her own online business called Serve Society. As the president of two clubs and principal of the orchestra’s cello section Ari keeps herself busy and dedication to multiple leadership roles. Ari is truly inspired by the ability of the internet and how it is able to spread across the world with the press of a button. After taking many service trips to Mexico, Ari has discovered that technology levels the field between cultures and breaks down the barriers of language and distance.

Arianna T. | New York, New York

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Winner
Trinity School

Arianna has always loved computer science, and for the past few years has been mentored by her programming teacher Stephen Lewis. She runs her own server, has built several websites, and written a game that uses everyday barcodes for input and user control. She has worked with Java, Php, Actionscript and BASIC and co-authored an Iphone app with a classmate. For fun she collects old machines and parts from her school and builds simple robots.

As a freshman, Arianna founded the Geek Club, which engages older students in mentoring younger students taking computing classes. Arianna is a two-time captain of her summer sailing team, and she can ride a unicycle.

Ariel M. | Columbus, Ohio

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Centennial High School

Ariel has taken computing courses throughout her high school career and has been selected for special programs within those classes. She is a member of her school’s women’s Computer Science club and works for a local library, where she volunteered for many years. For that, Ariel received the award of Head Volunteer as a sophomore. Ariel has created several websites, including for OSU and for a local business that is still in use today.  Ariel aspires to obtain a Master’s degree in a technological field and use her knowledge to work for the government. Ariel hopes to use her skills to have an impact on the nation.

Arushi R. | Beaverton, Oregon

2011 National Award Winner
Jesuit High School

Arushi cites her interests in Quantum Circuits, Humanoid Robots, Genetic Algorithms and Evolution, Group Theory, Fuzzy Logic, Image Processing and Machine Learning, and has published and presented papers in prestigious international technical conferences on her research in these topics. Arushi's impressive resume landed her an internship with Intel, providing her with even more opportunities to present her work to the computer science community. 

In 2008, Arushi presented the research paper, "Using Fuzzy Quantum Logic to learn facial gestures of a Schrödinger Cat puppet for robot theatre" at the 17th International Workshop on Post-Binary UL SI Systems. She was then invited to discuss an extension of the paper at the 2010 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence in Barcelona, Spain.

Aryaled A. | Denver, Colorado

2010 Denver Affiliate Award Winner
Denver School of Science and Technology

Aryaled worked with technology during high school in several facets of her life, including at her high school with the Tech Support Crew, at home helping to fix friends' computer problems, and at work when she interned in web design for the Japan America Society of Colorado. She helped establish the Japanese Language and Culture Club at her school and led a robotics project with middle and high school students for the Female Recruits Exploring Engineering program. One of Aryaled's proudest accomplishments in high school was creating an RPG game to help students learn Japanese characters using tablet PC's.

Aryaled is attending Stanford University and is intending to major in Computer Science with a minor in Linguistics.

Asha H. | Lilburn, Georgia

2011 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Parkview High School

Asha  is a senior at Parkview High School. She has always loved working on projects which involved computers and robotics. Through these areas, she has developed a great interest in programming. This has sparked a greater appreciation of what is required to become a robotic engineer and calls this field her love, her dream, and her reality. " In 2008, she attended a Microsoft sponsored summer program in Washington D.C. called Digigirlz, which allowed her to experiment and gain experience with creating different web designs. This past summer, she attended a selective three-week LEAD Summer Engineering Institute at Georgia Tech, in which her team won our challenge in designing and presenting a device to clean an oil spill.  A fun fact about Asha is in addition to her interest in computer science and robotics, she is dedicated to producing music. Her next step in her journey in computing starts next Fall when she starts her freshman year at Georgia Tech. She plans to major in Computer Engineering.

Ashley S. | Marlborough, Massachusetts

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School

Programming is more than schoolwork to Ashley; it is a hobby and hopefully someday will be a career. In addition to her time spent doing homework for AP Computer Science class, she makes icons, digital art, and volunteers with a summer technology camp.  Ashley values education and loves to help students understand computer science, she even helped to develop and design her schools system’s sixth grade computer science curriculum. She helped develop a prototypical overarching narrative, with achievements that kids could earn by both doing the expected coursework and by going above and beyond what was expected. Ashley is set on her dream to major in computer science and dreams of the day she will be able to point to her name in the credits of a fantastic game.

Athena K. | Phoenixville, Pennsylvania

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Commonwealth Connections Academy

Since Athena was a freshman, she has participated in the Real World Design Challenge and she has joined her school’s team, the CCA Innovators. She is now the leader and chief engineer and she uses computer software design and analyze airplane wings to create a more aerodynamic design. Recently, her team won the Pennsylvania State Championship and placed in the top ten nationally for the Real World Design Challenge. Athena aspires to major in Computer Science or Software Engineering and pursue a career that will benefit society through technology. 

Autumn R. | Bryant, Arkansas

2011 Arkansas/Northeastern Oklahoma Affiliate Award Winner
Bryant High School

Autumn is most interested in the design of computer hardware. She has designed circuits then implemented her ideas to create an infrared link for a stereo. She has programmed a robot to operate in four wheel drive with a switch to convert to two wheel drive. She has designed and raced her own robot two years in a row at the University of Arkansas at LIttle Rock's Engineering Scholars Program.  Autumn won 1st place in CO2 races with a very unique car design.

Autumn would like to go to college for Computer Hardware Engineering or Electrical Engineering.

Ayesha B. | San Diego, California

2011 National Award Winner
Francis Parker High School

Ayesha has applied her advanced skills at the Jisan Research Institute over the last three years on projects involving Linux, Pascal, and binary and ternary trees in C. This past summer, she attended the Research Science Institute at MIT, where she worked in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory on an underwater robot. She worked on developing an object recognition system for the robot to behave more autonomously and was recently awarded semi-finalist in the Siemens competition for her work, "A Combinatorial Method of Object Recognitioin for the AMOUR VI Underwater Robot." She also serves as president for her school's Science Olympiad and FIRST Robotics teams.

Ayesha says that creating a robot that can learn and grow is something she'd most like to pursue in future work and she plans to study Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in college.

Berkley L. | Papillion, Nebraska

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 Nebraska & SW Iowa Affiliate Award Winner
Papillion-La Vista Senior High School

Berkley was selected as a runner up for the national NCWIT Aspiration in Computing Award. She is actively involved in robotics and has attended the VEX World Robotics Competition with her team – and she was the only girl in the group. Berkley has experience working with a variety of software including AutoCAD, Alice, Visual Basic and Photoshop. Berkley’s interests combine both technology and arts. She has performed in theatrical productions, won awards for painting and writing, and is currently learning Russian. Berkley wants to have a career in information assurance, but that is just her short-term goal. Her long-term ambition is to keep on learning new skills to continue reinventing herself.

Beth H. | Northville, Michigan

2011 National Award Winner
Northville High School

Beth founded and continues to direct a middle school Lego robotics program and competition. She organized four summer robotics camps, earning over $5,000 for her high school’s FIRST Robotics team. For her outreach work, she earned recognition as an international FIRST Dean’s List winner, Prudential Spirit of Community Finalist, and Girl Scout Gold Award recipient.

During the summer of 2010, Beth had the opportunity to intern at the NASA Glenn Research Center. There she helped develop an education outreach miniature Mars rover, which can be viewed online at dlnrover.grc.nasa.gov. Beth plans to study computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she hopes to investigate artificial intelligence and robotics.

Bethany L. | Pickerington, Ohio

2010 National Award Winner
Columbus Academy

Bethany discovered a love for software because it combines two passions: robotics and programming. She has been on her school’s robotics team for three years, this year as the team leader and lead programmer, and on her school’s software team for three years. One of Bethany’s favorite memories from her AP Computer Science class is when she chose to develop a computer game using Actionscript 3.0 for her final project, which she had to teach herself how to use.

Her thirst for knowledge doesn’t end at her high school, as she is taking honor courses in Engineering at Ohio State University as well.

Bhavi P. | Randolph, Massachusettes

2011 Massachusettes Affiliate Award Winner
Randolph High School

Bhavi has her cousin to thank for his influence in her interest in computer science. He told her about his work in college and has suggested that she follow a career in computers because of its accessibility to individuals with visual impairments like herself. She has received the "Xerox Award for Innovation and Information Technology.”

Bhavi sees herself going to college and continuing onto graduate school to study computer science and then working for a computer technology company. Currently she is researching new adaptive technologies that can help her with her education.

Bianca H. | Westborough, Massachusetts

2010 National Award Winner
Westborough High School

Bianca hopes one day to be involved in creating humanoid robots with conversational abilities and artificial intelligence. She already has built many robots that were designed to perform specific tasks, such as a robotic dog that was able to respond to touch and sound stimuli. This robot placed in the top 400 in the country for the Discovery Channel Young Scientists Challenge. A robotic arm she built won the “Engineering Design Award” for a state level competition. Involvement with the FIRST Lego League, FRC, and a VEX Savage Soccer team keep her busy as well.

For the future, Bianca is most interested in robotics, artificial intelligence, and theoretical computer science.

Blaire B. | Stone Mountain, Georgia

2012 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Northeast Independent Preparatory Academy

Ms. Blaire Bosley is a sophomore at Northeast Independent Preparatory Academy. During her free time, some of her favorite things to do outside of school are building websites, reading, and crocheting. Her proudest achievement is when her robotics team, the Fernbank LINKS Robotics, won the BEST website during the 2010-2011 Georgia BEST Robotics Competition. Blaire says that while their have many inspirational people in her life, Dr. Huffman has been the most inspirational as she constantly strives to make everyone feel important and successful.

After graduating from high school in 2014, Blaire plans to attend college and obtain a dual-degree in material engineering and nanotechnology.

Brandee L. | Pataskala, Ohio

2011 Ohio Affiliate Award Winner
Licking Heights School

Brandee’s parents encouraged her to join BDPA (Black Data Processing Associates). She was greatly motivated by the BDPA mentors who trained her. She competed in the National BDPA competition with her technical group last year. She is most interested in programming websites and databases.

Brandee plans to attend the University of Akron and major in nursing to eventually become a Registered Nurse. She also loves music and poetry.

Brandi D. | Columbia, Tennessee

2012 National Award Winner, 2012 Tennessee Affiliate Award Winner
Spring Hill High School

Brandi found her interest in computer science during the 8th grade, and has since completed every IT course offered by her high school. She attended Tennessee Tech’s Governor’s School of Information Technology in 2011 where she completed and received college credit for three additional college level courses. Brandi is the only female student computer technician at Spring High School, as well as holding the title of President of her school’s chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America and serves as the State of Tennessee’s FBLA webmaster. As a member of FBLA she has received 1st place in their Introduction to Technology Concepts, Computer Operating Systems, and Network Concepts competitions at the regional and state levels. She has also received Spring Hill High School’s 2011 Female Distinguished Scholar Award. Brandi would like to attend a university and aspires to own her own computer repair shop as well as becoming a prosthetic orthodontist.

Briana C. | Mahomet, Illinois

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Lake of the Woods Academy Homeschool

This past summer, Briana applied for a job at the Nation Center for Supercomputing Application (NCSA) and was hired to assist with a week-long summer camp for 38 middle school girls. She was originally hired to facilitate the logistics of the camp, but she ended up teaching an entire day of classes at the Girls Engaged in Math and Science (GEMS) workshop, in addition to several other classes throughout the week. Briana wants to use computing and technology to revolutionize education. She wants to pursue a major in Computer Science with a minor in psychology to learn how to apply technology to different learning styles and abilities. 

Brianna J. | Austell, Georgia

2010 National Award Winner
Wheeler High School

Brianna has special interests in casino and driving simulation games, robotics, and creating short movies. She has pursued these interests by creating games such as Solitaire, Black Jack 21, and Card Wars, making short movies using Alice and Scratch, and starting an all-girls team, RoboChix, at her high school. She has also led workshops through the Georgia Tech School Computing Assistant Program, teaching middle-school students to use and understand tools such as Alice, Scratch, Pleo and Pico Crickets.

Along with her school activities, Brianna helps her mother with her design business, creating brochures, flyers, and business cards.

Brianna P. | New York, New York

2008 National Award Winner
Spotswood High School

Brianna Pellicane is eager to learn different computer languages and work on various technology projects. She has had the opportunity to work with PHP, JavaScript and AJAX on a web page. Brianna is planning to attend Monmouth University where she will pursue bachelor’s and master’s degrees in five years. She hopes to program software for large corporations and earn a teaching certificate, with the goal of teaching computer science to high school students.

Britney J. | Sherwood, Oregon

2010 Portland Affiliate Award Winner
Sherwood High School

Because of her interest in both building and using computers to design products, Britney has enjoyed being involved in the robotics team at her high school. With her robotics team, she was able to improve her knowledge of computer programming, drafting, and prototyping while creating attachments for the robot. Britney enjoys sharing her passion for robotics by visiting elementary school classes to teach kids how to build and control small Lego robots, and by setting up robotics booths at theschool fairs.

Along with the robotics club, Britney participates in her school’s Africa Club and Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and is the poetry layout editor of the school Literary Magazine, a position which has helped her master InDesign and Adobe Acrobat.

Brittany K. | New Albany, Indiana

2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
New Albany High School

Brittany’s mother introduced her to computers at an early age and she has loved them ever since. Her most prized accomplishment was placing 2nd at the Marion County Technology Fair, hosted by the University of Indianapolis. She designed a program to be used by a medical secretary to collect and store multiple patients' information.

Brittany has also been working on her school's webpage, serves as the Senior Class Vice President, is a member of the National Honors Society, and a member of her school's math team. She has played varsity softball since her freshman year and has made All-Conference and All-Area teams throughout her high school career.

Brittany F. | Atlanta, Georgia

2008 National Award Winner
Creekside High School

Brittany enjoys creating websites and programs. She is specifically interested in learning how computers work and how they are put together. Brittany has taken numerous computer classes at her high school and loves the challenge of creating different programs using JAVA.

Brittany plans on attending Southern Polytechnic University and hopes to major in Computer Engineering, Mechanics and Electronics.

Brittany Z. | Patchogue, New York

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Patchogue-Medford High School

Brittany was inspired to pursue computer science by her computer science teacher, Mrs. Bucaria. Brittany considers winning the Aspirations Award to be her greatest technical accomplishment to date. She is interested in robotics, programming, web design, and graphic design.  Brittany has maintained a lifelong interest in attending culinary school, and has solved a Rubik’s cube is 1 minute and 45 seconds.

Brittany plans to attend college and study game design and programming with a possible physics minor. 

Brittany W. | Lakewood Ranch, Florida

2012 National Award Runner-Up
The Out of Door Academy

Brittany’s passion for computers revolves around her developing enthusiasm for computer programming. She has coded a myriad of projects in many different languages that span a wide array of topics including user-interface, video games, math assistants, stock predictors, and many more. She finds herself coding usually in java, C#, javascript, and Scheme, which she is mostly self-taught. Her greatest accomplishment was in her first implementation of a neural network. She made her neural network a soccer implementation that explored game theory. When her application runs, the neurons play against a conventional computer program and determine which plays are most successful and on average, her neurons will win 97% of the time. For this project, Brittany was recognized at the Sarasota County Science Fair where she received best in show and the INTEL Excellence in Technology Award. Brittany hopes to pursue either Computer Science or Computer Engineering in college. 

Brittney H. | Waldorf, Maryland

2012 National Award Runner-Up
North Point High School

Brittney has taken many years of computer science classes and was selected to attend the Cisco Networking Academy. There, she has learned not only how to be a better computer scientist but how to be a more diligent worker.  Brittney is also the Secretary of her school’s chapter of National Honor Society and she tutors middle school students in math and science. Brittney is also a Varsity Basketball player and after a season-ending injury, continued her passion and became a little league coach. It is Brittney’s dream to be an Information Systems Analyst to give something back to her country and protect the world of technology.

Brooke R. | Lexington, North Carolina

2011 North Carolina Affiliate Award Winner
West Davidson High School

Brooke recently learned how to knit via YouTube, and is attempting to make and sell bracelets and other items for Japan Relief. She will be attending Pace University in the fall of 2011, and plans to major in both Computer Science and Modern Languages and Cultures. Brooke enjoys both Spanish and French, and plans to study abroad. She also wants to continue with her Master's degree in Computer Science.

Brooke B. | Stone Mountain, Georgia

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Northeast Independent Preparatory Academy

Brooke was inspired to pursue computer science by her high school computer science instructor and mentors of her robotics team, the Fernbank LINKS.  Her team recently participated in the annual Georgia BEST (Boosting, Engineering, Science and Technology) Robotics competition and won first place in both the Robot Performance and BEST Award categories. Brooke also participates in many summer programs including the Spelman College Computer and Robotics Education (CARE) Camp and the Georgia Tech Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) ICE Scribbler. After working on programming a Four-Legged Robot using Alice, Brooke was asked back to volunteer for the CARE Camp. Brooke has been enrolled in NASA’s SEMAA (Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academy) since the 3rd grade. Brooke plans to attend college in the fall of 2012 and pursue a dual-degree in computer science and computer engineering. She would like to start a mentoring program focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) for elementary and middle school students.

Caitlin C. | Houston, Texas

2011 Houston Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Cypress Woods High School

Caitlin is interested in a career in Biomedical Engineering because she knows several people that suffer from juvenile diabetes. Their condition has motivated her to pursue research for a cure. She wants to use robotics to create artificial pancreases and to research the genetics behind the disease.

Since her freshman year, Caitlin has participated as a violinist and student officer in the Orchestra. She loves to run and does so every day. Math is her favorite subject, but she has also participated in UIL Academic competitions for writing. Catie is a student officer in the Cy-Woods Key Club so she spent over 100 hours last semester volunteering for various organizations. She loves to travel with her family and she's looking forward to another year of high school before she attends a yet undecided universtiy. She took her first Computer Science class during her freshman year and was a student in AP Computer Science and participant in various programming competitions during her sophomore year. Now as a junior, Catie is takling AP Statistics and other challenging courses.

Calista F. | Wexford, Pennsylvania

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School

Calista has a wide range of talents and interests. She is not only interested in computers and especially STEM programs, but is also involved in other activities such as Taekwondo, piano and the violin. She is in the process of earning her 3rd 3rd Degree Black Belt at American Taekwondo Association, and has taken nine state champion titles and has come in second in world competition. She has had 9 years of piano training at CMU's School of Music Children's Preparatory Program, and also holds the position of as 3rd seat violist at the Three Rivers Young People's Orchestra. In April 16, 2010 she was the only student to appear at the 10th Annual IntelVisionary Conference in Washington, DC. When there she presented, "Art + Imagination + Innovation = A Very Special Presentation", for the presentation she personally connected all the wires and configured both the computer software and the piano’s settings for the demonstration under the direction of a team member.

Camryn W. | Downers Grove, Illinois

2012 National Award Runner-Up
South High School

Camryn’s first experience with computers can be led back to preschool where she helped Nancy Drew solve mysteries through a computer screen. Since then, Camryn has been motivated to learn and experience as much as she can in the computer field. She has taken classes in AP Computer Science, Computer-Aided Design, Web Design, and 3D Drawing and Animation. In these classes, Camryn represent a very small percent of the girls and embraces this in hopes of being a role model to other young, female students. Camryn intends to study Computer Science in college and is looking for a University that has extra-curricular organizations and advisors that will help her find her way through this field.

Carmen Z. | Oakland, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 and 2011 Bay Area Affiliate Award Winner
Oakland Technical High School

Carmen has been interested in computer science ever since she took basic Turtle Graphics and C++ courses at a young age. She actively participates in extracurricular activities and clubs at her school involving robotics, engineering, and technology. Most recently, she participated in Pioneers in Engineering, a robotics competition hosted by University of California, Berkeley graduate students and won 1st place in the category of autonomous robots. Carmen was also involved in the Technovation Challenge, a national program and competition sponsored by large-scale companies such as Google, Dell, Linked In, and the Office of Naval Research. Her team met twice a week on the UC Berkeley campus to create an app prototype using Google App Inventor. The winning team would have their app professionally marketed and distributed on the Android Market. Carmen's app went on to the National Competition at Google Headquarters in Mountainview, CA, one of 5 teams in the United States. Although she did not win at Nationals, Carmen gained experience in coding and was exposed to entrepreneurship and how to successfully sell a product using the right business ventures.

In her spare time, Carmen interns at the Space Science Lab at UC Berkeley, working with representatives of NASA and graduate students. She loves reading, blogging, and creating website layouts for social networking sites. If she is not in front of her computer or studying for her many AP classes, Carmen is in the pool swimming for the Oakland Tech Swim Team.

Caroline A. | Shaker Heights, Ohio

2011 National Award Winner
Hathaway Brown School

Caroline's main interest in the world of computer science is programming, specifically in the area of robotics. She enjoys the highly logical, step-by-step process of programming that she's found to be an invaluable skill in nearly everything she does. Caroline's proudest accomplishment in computing and technology is a project that took place over the course of two summers at Case Western Reserve University. She recently completed her work there with her partner - a fellow high school student - as well as some grad students. Her first summer in the program was spent creating a cyber-enabled wheelchair named ALEN (Autonomous Linux Enabled Navigator). ALEN is a semi-autonomous voice activated robotic wheelchair that can navigate its way around a house, given the floor plan. Her contribution included helping to program the voice recognitioin and the beginning stages of path planning.

Caroline plans to study both computer science and psychology or philosophy in college. Her main goal is to combine theories of humanoid robotics and human thought to develop a career in computer science and programming.

Caroline L. | Libertyville, Illinois

2009 National Award Winner
Libertyville High School

Caroline was the only female member on her school’s robotics team. Though the team disbanded her junior year, Caroline and a few other students are working to reinstate it for a competition in Miami this year. Independently, she works on computer programming in various languages and is developing her own physics engine and researching artificial intelligence.In her junior year, Caroline was nominated for Student of the Month by the Applied Technology department.

After graduating high school, she plans to major in Computer Science. She is interested in researching virtual worlds and artificial intelligence.

Caroline H. | New York, New York

2012 National Award Runner-Up
The Dalton School

Throughout her high school career, Caroline has taken Computer Science classes and Applied Math Lab that have given her a great background in computers. She has taught herself MATLAB and has taken classes in computational linguistics, which she hopes to make into a degree in college.  She has recently joined a FIRST Robotics team and is an executive editor of her school’s newspaper. Caroline has interned with the Center for Immigrant Health where she created a program to streamline process for medical interpretation. She also is an American Computer Science League National All-Star due to her work at her internship. Caroline hopes to work in the field of technology and social connectivity by majoring in Computer Science and linguists or economics.

Casey M. | Durham, North Carolina

2011 North Carolina Affiliate Award Winner
C.E. Jordan High School

Casey fell in love with technology during a FIRST Robotics event. As a senior Girl Scout, she is pursuing her Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor a scout can receive. She is also a founding member of Project Refresh Jordan, which raises money to improve education. Casey wants to major in Computer Engineering at NCSU or Georgia Institute of Technology.

Casie C. | Mobile, Alabama

2012 National Award Runner-Up
WP Davidson High School

Casie’s interest in programming began when she took an engineering course called the Infinity Project where she learned Visual Basic and RobotC programming language.  She was able to write mathematical operations using Microsoft Excel's VBA platform such as creating the Fibonacci sequence in an array and converting any decimal number to binary up to 15 decimal places.  She then learned RobotC to program a robot. Using the Vex Sensorbots lent to her school, she programmed a robot to follow a white line and enter a sorting field autonomously. From there, a driver could take over manual control in order to sort objects. Casie is the head programmer for her school’s robotics team, RobotEx, where she has fully programmed two robots. She is most proud of their current robot, E. O because of his complexity and innovative design. Casie is also the secretary of the French Honor Society. The French Honor Society is a partner with the Alliance Française de Mobile that puts on the French Booth at Mobile’s International Festival. She is also one of the captains of Davidson’s Junior Varsity Scholars Bowl team, and is a volunteer teaching assistant at her dance studio.

Cate B. | Houston, Texas

2011 Houston Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart

Cate's interest in computers began at a very young age, but recently she has developed a more specific interest in computer software. Last year she participated in Microsoft's Digigirlz event, which inspired her to make her goal to work for a big computer company designing computer software.

Cate participates in many extracurricular activities including National Honor Society, swim team, tutoring children, and school plays. She also enjoys drawing, baking, and roller blading in her free time.

Catherine H. | Scarsdale, New York

2009 National Award Winner
Horace Mann School

Catherine attended a computer science course at the University of Pennsylvania as a part of their Summer Academy of Applied Science and Technology Program. The students learned Java, PHP and mySQL. Catherine serves as the production manager and co-webmaster of her school’s newspaper. With a friend, she coded the newspaper’s website from scratch and continues running it. This site was named a National Scholastic Press Association Online Pacemaker Finalist.

In college, Catherine wants to double-major in Computer Science or Computer Engineering and Humanities. She would like to become involved with web startups and looks forward to creating the next Facebook or YouTube.

Catherine L. | Houston, Texas

2011 Houston Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Clear Creek High School

Catherine hopes to attend the University of British Columbia or Massachusetts Institute of Technology and major in Atmospheric Sciences in order to attune her passion for computing and her love of meteorology. She is a member of the National Honor Society, is ranked number fifteen in her class, plays soccer and lacrosse, and also participates in band. The person that has influenced her the most is her mother because she has always encouraged her to pursue her dreams.

Catherine M. | Atherton, California

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Bay Area Affiliate Award Winner, 2010 Bay Area Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Sacred Heart Preparatory

Catherine has been actively involved in computing and technology since her participation in the Google-sponsored Technovation Challenge where she learned to program applications using Google’s programming language, AppInventor. She further applied her computing skills in web design when she accepted an internship at Blue Buzz Network, a web startup company. Then, as an intern at Stanford University’s RISE (Raising Interest in Science and Engineering) program, and under the guidance of a PhD student in the electrical engineering department, she conducted research in nanotechnology to determine future usage of carbon nanotube field-effect transistors in electrical circuits. Besides all of that, Catherine was also a summer engineering scholar at both the University of Notre Dame and Santa Clara University, and was invited to attend Cornell’s Women In Engineering and MIT’s Weekend Immersion in Science and Engineering. In the future, Catherine hopes to pursue an entrepreneurial path and apply her talents to the betterment of youth education and the environment.

Ceahna L. | Riverdale, Georgia

2012 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Georgia Academy for the Blind

Ms. Ceahna Lathon is a senior at the Georgia Academy for the Blind. Some of her favorite pastimes are mentoring middle school girls and other students interested in STEM, as well as playing goalball and listening to music. Her proudest achievement is receiving the National WizKidz Junior Achievement Award and being delegated to give a speech at Boeing about the visually impaired. There are two people that Ceahna feels have been inspirational – her mom who has always believed in her and felt that she could do any and everything despite being visually impaired, and her mentor Rayshun Dorsey, who has always stressed that there is no such thing as a disability.

Ceahna plans to attend Georgia College and State University and secure an internship at NASA. She will also be serving as a lead counselor for the WizKidz Science and Technology Centers Aropability computing summer camp for the visually impaired held at Georgia Tech.

Celina D. | Corpus Christi, Texas

2010 National Award Winner
Ray High School

Celina has been creating class slide shows and helping her computer teachers since the age of ten. Every summer she has shown her commitment to and love of technology by attending camps held at Texas A&M University-Kingsville that focused on engineering and new technologies. These camps helped to spark her fascination with up-andcoming technologies and helped her to develop her programming skills. Highlights of these summer experiences include programming a robot to do a dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and using AutoCad and AutoCam to create a wax block design which in the future could actually become part of an engineering manufacturing process.

In the future Celina hopes to become a computer systems analyst where she can use her creativity and problem-solving skills.

Chasity H. | Charlotte, North Carolina

2008 National Award Winner
Zebulon B. Vance High School

Chasity Holt has been enrolled in numerous computing and information technology courses. By declaring Computer Engineering as her major, she will be able to pursue a career in a field that she enjoys. Chasity is the president of her school’s National Society of Back Engineers chapter. She plans to attend North Carolina State University or Claflin University with Information Technology as an interest, but hopes to double-major in Architectural Design as well. 

Chelsea R. | Tremont, Illinois

2011 National Award Winner, 2010 National Award Runner-Up, 2010 and 2011 Illinois Affiliate Award Winner
Tremont High School

Chelsea joined the FIRST Robotics Roboteers team in high school and quickly recognized the future need for programmers within that group. In response, she decided to learn C++ programming code. Since there weren’t any programming classes for Chelsea to attend, she worked with her school’s technology coordinator and applied for a special computer station in her school, requesting professional software needed to learn C++. Additionally, Chelsea has challenged herself by learning LabVIEW on her own through online courses. She was the first on her robotics team to experiment with and utilize LabVIEW.

In addition to her many extracurricular activities, Chelsea finds time to work with younger students in the Lego Leaguer’s program in her school district. Chelsea plans to attend college to study either biomedical engineering or medicine.

Chiann-Ling Y. | Las Cruces, New Mexico

2012 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Winner
Las Cruces High School

In the summer of 2010, Chiann-Ling attended "Young Women in Computing," a summer program at New Mexico State University, designed to captivate the interests of female students eager to exploe a technological field of study. During this intensive summer camp, she was able to familiarize herself with Alice Animation software. In addition to researching the genetics of Multiple Sclerosis for Bioinformatics training, she arranged pieces of a robot and programmed a function on which it would work. This past summer, Chiann-Ling was participated in the Summer Science Program in Socorro, New Mexico, where she had the opportunity to write a program in VPython that determined the orbital elements of a near-earth asteroid using only three hands-on observations from a telescope. Currently, she is the President of MESA (Math, Engineering, and Science Achievements). She also enjoys tutoring other students in STEM-related fields. In her community, Chiann-Ling attended a Walk for MS, Relay for Life, Keep Las Cruces Beautiful, and volunteered at the Senior Olympics and Memorial Medical Center.

Christina F. | Houston, Texas

2011 Houston Affiliate Award Winner
Carnegie Vanguard High School

Christina's biggest influences are her parents, but her mentor from her robotics team has also been a large influence, especially in her interest in technology. Her specific interest in the IT field is open source development, and she plans to study computer science in the future.

Christina Q. | Bellevue, Washington

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 and 2010 National Award Runner-Up
Newport High School

Christina first realized that computer science was something that she was both good at and interested in when she took her first media technology class in middle school. She liked the feeling of being able to not merely use technology, but rather to change and influence technology herself. Once she had developed beyond the challenges that these high school courses offered, she moved on to taking college level computer courses while she was still a high school student. She is most proud of the fact that she developed her own file back-up system during her internship at Kistler Sensors using the xcopy Source Destination syntax to copy files from the source folder to the external hard-drive. Christina will be entering the University of Washington in the fall of 2012 with 90 credits towards her computer science degree already completed

Christina D. | Pittsburg, Texas

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Pittsburg High School

Christina loves being involved in computers and using her skills to help others in any way she can.  From using Photoshop for the school’s yearbook, to programming a robot or helping her mother’s business run more efficiently, Christina uses her knowledge to help others. Christina is the President of the Robotics club, is involved with 9 different robotics teams, and has led her schools FIRST team to the World Competition in St. Louis, MO.  hristina is the Assistant Editor of her school’s newspaper that comes out ever six weeks. She edits most of the writer’s stories before they go to print and she also assigns what stories the writers will write and uses her skills with computers to complete the layout in Adobe InDesign. She is the secretary for the National Honor Society, runs the lights and sound for her schools theater productions, and is also a member of the Student Council. She hopes in the future to go to school for engineering, where she hopes to help break the stigma that engineering is mostly males. Ultimately she hopes to become a software engineer for a company such as Google.

Christine T. | Congers, New York

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Clarkston North Senior High School

Christine has spent most of her time programming, but is also interested in interface design. She has taken honors computer science and learned QBasic and C++. Christine is most interested in programming, but also likes interface design. 

Christine is the article editor of several school publications, including the math magazine, science magazine, and the world language magazine. She is also the treasurer of the Asian Cultural Society, and serves on the NY Public Library Youth Board. 

Christine C. | Palo Alto, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Palo Alto High School

Since her first class in simple programming language, Christine continues to gain more interest for computer science each day. As a sophomore Christine scored a 5 on the AP computer science exam, she has participated in numerous science fair competitions and has received several awards from the Santa Clara Valley Science and Engineering Fair Association. She has also been named the semifinalist in Northern California and West Nevada Region in 2011 (Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, as well as participating in the 2011 BioGENius Challenge in San Francisco Bay Area and was one of the twelve semifinalists. Christine is the founder and president for Empower with Computers and Technologies Club at Palo Alto High School, she is a member of STEM, participates in Science Olympiad, volunteers at Wisdom Chinese Culture and Folk Arts Summer Camp, and was a qualifier in the 2011 American Invitational Mathematics Exam, as well as receiving the silver medal in the 2011 USA Mathematical Talent Search. With all of her knowledge and continuing education, Christine hopes to enter bioinformatics related fields.

Christy M. | Pine Bluff, Arkansas

2011 Arkansas/Northeastern Oklahoma Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Ridgeway Christian School

Christy credits her mother for influencing her most in computing. She won first place in the Computer Science category and second place overall at the Southeast Arkansas Regional Science Fair, which allowed her to compete in the International Science and Engineering Fair. She also works as a teacher’s aide and tutors students in mathematics.

Christy plans to attend college and study computer science and is most interested in programming.

Ciara P. | Chicago, Illinois

2010 National Award Winner
Northside College Prepatory High School

Ciara has overcome many challenges in her life through her creativity and hard work. She brings her ideals and ethics into her everyday life not only by expanding her own knowledge but by helping others. Ciara was initially attracted to programming by its logic, its exercise in problem-solving, and its ability to make things happen through code. One of Ciara’s proudest moments came during her month-long internship at the University of Tennessee’s Innovative Computing Laboratories; Ciara and a fellow intern created a tutorial for the TAU Portal, which allows the sharing information between scientists and their staff.

Ciara gives back to others through her work as a teacher’s aide for a group of gifted middle school students; she helps them better understand subjects such as Boolean algebra, truth tables, and binary.

Cissy C. | Boulder, Colorado

2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Fairview High School

Cissy has always loved integrating technology into her math and science related passions.  As a junior, she became an Intel ISEF Finalist with a math project with possible applications in improving methods of sending information securely.  To observe conjectures that she later proved, she relied heavily on Mathematica for data generation.  Cissy also attended the Women’s Technology Program at MIT last summer, which opened her eyes to how useful computer science skills were for further research in anything science-related.  Cissy is the captain of her school’s math team, a member of the Science Bowl team, the treasurer of her school’s National Honor Society, and a teaching assistant at the state middle school math meetings.  In the future, Ms. Chen hopes to do more research regarding prime numbers and encryption while continuing to teach younger students.

Claudia Y. | Houston, Texas

2012 National Award Runner-Up
CY-Fair High School

Claudia has become knowledgeable in Photoshop, Scratch and Alice. She has become so inspired that she has changed her intended career path from chemical engineer to computer science with a minor in chemical engineering.  She is part of an organization called PALs, Peer Assistance and Leadership, which is a program filled with students who are role models for the rest of school. She is also involved in SNHS (Spanish National Honor Society), NHS (National Honor society), Environmental club, student council, Spanish club, and is a captain of the cross-country team. Claudia is also a role model in her school because of her technical knowledge. Many people come to her with a variety of questions concerning computers and she is proud to be able to answer their questions and help them. She also volunteers extensively in her community through her church.

Co N. | Alexandria, Virginia

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Thomas Jefferson High School

Programming and technology have been Co’s inspiration since she was a little girl. In middle school, Co was in the top 1% of her class and was taking high school level math and science classes. Co competed in many competitions, including MathCounts and Science Olympiad. She also assisted teachers by mentoring students in Algebra and Microsoft Office. In high school, Co has taken many technology classes and has earned the International Baccalaureate Technology Award and has received a bronze and gold medal in regionals for Challenge 24. She has self-taught herself HTML and took an online programming class from Stanford. As a freshman, Co scored in the top four of the students on the American Computer Science League (ACSL) and was selected to compete in Virginia Commonwealth University High School Programming Contest. Co also takes an active role in volunteering her time to help fundraise for her school’s music department.  She is also active in her school’s Computer Team where she is in charge of recruiting. Co helped double the size of the team in two years.  In the future, Co plans on taking more computing classes and hopes to have a career in cyber security.

Connie C. | Boston, Massachusetts

2008 National Award Winner
Boston Latin Academy

Connie gained an interest in the field of computing and technology at a very young age. She created her first web page at the age of 7. Her passion for technology led to her enroll in high-level courses, such as Webmasters. Connie has been involved with outside courses, including Accessible E-Commerce Fundamental at UMass Boston and Digital Photography and Animation at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Connie plans to attend a college with strong art and computer programs in order to advance her skills in IT and graphic design.

Courtney E. | Atlanta, Georgia

2008 National Award Winner
Brookwood High School

Courtney has taken part in numerous computer classes at her high school. In addition to using technology in her everyday life, Courtney also uses her computer skills while working on her school’s yearbook.

After high school, she wants to attend a 4-year college. Courtney plans to major in Print Journalism and minor in Spanish. She believes that understanding computers is important for her future career. Eventually she would like to work for Time Magazine or the New York Times.

Courtney H. | Altamonte Springs, Florida

2012 National Award Winner
Lake Brantley High School

Since she was young, Courtney has been fascinated with computers. As a child, she would sit behind her mother and watch her work on the computer to learn what she was doing. Courtney helped found her school’s computer science outreach club, in order to help raise awareness about computer science among girls, to encourage girls to pursue degrees in computer science, and to recruit girls for the club for the following years. Courtney is currently “training” a PLEOrb dinosaur robot so she can teach children about the basics of computer science. She knew upon entering high school that she wanted to pursue a job in the computer science field and began taking courses in HTML and then took an AP Computer Science course. In the future, Courtney plans to major in Computer Engineering and hopes to start and run a computer business to continue with her passion for computers through an old age.

Courtney O. | Longwood, Florida

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Lake Brantley High School

Courtney has taken several classes that involve computing and technology in high school. Her favorite class was Computing for College and Careers where she learned the essentials to typing fast and how to create a resume, newsletters, business letters, and power points. She also has a background using CAD software to design blueprints for buildings and bridges in her drafting class. She is most proud of the fact that she was able to do logic and array problems through her AP Computer Science class. Courtney is looking to pursue a career in either environmental engineering or electrical engineering. 

Dana M. | Summerfield, North Carolina

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Northern Guilford High School

Dana comes from a programming family—both of her parents are programmers and she began programming in Middle School when she learned how to use Alice. With this she has made extensive computer games and animations. From Alice, she moved onto animating custom sprites using MS paint and a program called Jasc Animation Shop. These two programs helped Dana develop a passion for computers. She is currently taking more formal programming classes, learning Java through AP computer science and C++ through Stanford Univeristy’s EPGY program. This past summer she developed an Alice Programming Workshop which she co-taught with her sister. During the school year she has developed a “Hello, World” Technology Club for the girls at the local middle school. Dana hopes to work in a Computer Science field and is particularly interested in virtual reality.  

Danica C. | Swink, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Swink Junior-Senior High School

Danica became interested in computing as a way to keep up with our everchanging world. Since making computing a part of her life, she has had the opportunity to develop interests including working with photoshop, online gaming and web design; Danica’s web design skills earned her a first-place award in a district competition in website development. She is also a member of Future Business Leaders of America, and involved in many clubs including drama club, chess club, recycling club and the school band.

After high school, she plans to attend the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs to begin her academic career in history. Danica strives to serve as a role model to younger kids, and holds leadership positions with the Operation Smile and Swink Youth in Community Service organizations. 

Daniela P. | Poway, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Poway High School

When Daniela got that acceptance email from the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science, she knew that she had found her passion for technology. Out of 160 students in the program, Daniela was the only freshman. During the program, she studied Mathematical Biology: Modeling of Tissue and Tumor Growth and then she presented her findings at the end of the program with her team. Since then Daniela has conducted her own research on “The Mathematical Analysis of the Effect of Anti-androgenic Drugs on Prostate Size in Mice”. Daniela is the Team Captain of the engineering team of her Robotics Club. She is also volunteering as a food server at a local homeless shelter and this experience has given her great compassion for the down trodden and has inspired her to inspire others. Daniela is also a member of the Society for Science and the Public as well as the NASA INSPIRE program and the Better Education for Women in Science and Engineering. Daniela considered herself a scientific designer and she has a passion for being a part of the global aspect of technology.  Daniela hopes to earn her PhD in Computational Biology.

Daniela R. | Norcross, Georgia

2012 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology

Ms. Daniela Ruiz is a sophomore at Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology. Daniela loves listening to college radio, finding new music and learning new languages, including programming languages. She participates in Model UN and is a member of a VEX robotics team. Time permitting, she enjoys watching a good movie at the theatre or seeing a band live in concert. Daniela has two moments that stand out as being her proudest. The first being when her robotics team made it to the VEX World Championship last year. The second is when she placed third at the WorldQuest competition last spring, which she credits for teaching her how to efficiently prepare for and event and for reminding her that even a technology-oriented individual can have an interest in humanities. Daniela’s grandmother has been most inspirational to her. Between raising 7 children, managing a small business, and giving her children the education she never had, she has shown Daniela 3 important things: that values and principles are what build a person’s character, that you can run a successful business with integrity and responsibility, and that an individual can overcome and learn from the disadvantages in her life.

To further her journey as an outstanding female in computing, Daniela plans to take AP Computer Science and participate in a computer or technology related internship this summer.

Daniella M. | San Antonio, Texas

2011 Central Texas Affiliate Award Winner
Jay High School

Daniella was inspired by her mother to pursue computer science. She is very interested in interface design, and she has a lot of experience with fixing broken computers. Daniella did some computing on RobotC during her summer program, All Girls Summer Robotics, hosted by Northwest Vista College.

Daniella plans to major in Computer Engineering in college and she would like to invent a laptop that is easier to use, and affordable for any household.

Danielle C. | Helotes, Texas

2011 National Award Winner, 2011 Central Texas Affiliate Award Winner
Sandra Day O'Conner High School

Danielle discovered programming in a computer science course offered in her high school, and she states that these classes have taught her to “think in a way that can be categorized as ‘outside of the box’.” Danielle attended the First Bytes Computer Science Program last summer at the University of Texas at Austin, giving her the opportunity to meet influential women in Computer Science from various companies. These introductions helped to reinforce the idea that she could one day be working in the technology field.

Danielle is proud to hold a spot on her school’s Code Wars team with only one other girl and competes in a programming competition each year. She has made it her mission to encourage other young women to try computing and convinced some of her classmates to take computer science instead of office applications courses. She holds the position of webmaster for the National Honor Society at her high school, and is currently working on building a new website using HTML and CSS.

Danielle D. | Folsom, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 Northern California Affiliate Award Winner
Saint Francis High School

Danielle has been a member of a FIRST robotics team since she first joined during her freshman year of high school, and she has been interested in computing ever since then. She has always received a lot of support and encouragement from her mother and father, who are both engineers, to follow her passion and pursue a career in computing if she so desires. One of the accomplishments that stands out in Danielle’s mind as being her proudest moment was when she helped another robotics team at a FIRST competition with a software problem they were experiencing. She feels that this demonstrated good sportsmanship since she was willing to help a competitor even though it might have meant that her team would lose as a result, and it also demonstrates leadership because nobody else would step up to help the struggling team. This is an example of how Danielle feels computing has taught her numerous life lessons.

Danning Y. | Corvallis, Oregon

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
Crescent Valley High School

Danning first became involved with programming in her freshmen year of high school where she was a member of her school’s robotics programming team. Since then, she has taught the new team members the basics of C++ and Java. Her biggest computing accomplishment was when she was accepted into the Apprenticeships in Science and Engineering program and received an internship where she worked for eight 40-hour weeks. In this program, she redesigned a chemistry professor’s online course in LON-CAPA format, organizing pages of lecture notes into hours of lectures and building a program for randomizing exam questions.  Danning plans to major in either Computer Science or Math, (or double majoring), in college. She’s looking into becoming a computer engineer, a statistician, an actuary, or a web developer.

Daria J. | Lawrenceville, Georgia

2011 National Award Winner, 2011 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology

As a junior, Daria started her school's first all-female robotics team - Robo Chic. During her junior year, she interned at the Information Management Division of Gwinnett County, enabling her to study and learn about the architecture of databases using SQL server and visual studio. Her passion extends beyond robotics and databases into biomedical engineering, which led her to an internship with Dr. Andrew B. Williams and the SpelBots at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work there includes programming an exercising humanoid robot as an intervention method for the childhood obesity epidemic. She credits Dr. Williams as an influential mentor and example in her education and research, and is proud of her ability to work with college level robots, humanoid robots specifically, and software such as Choreographer. Daria plans to attend Spelman College and become an integral part of the SpelBots robotics program.

Deirdre B. | Omaha, Nebraska

2012 Nebraska & SW Iowa Affiliate Award Winner
Omaha North High School

Deirdre is interested in all aspects of computer science. She likes building computers from scratch using basic hardware units. She has used Audacity to record services in her church. She is working on robotics and is currently poised to learn programming using Python. Last year she designed flash games using Scratch, and she was so good at it that she was called the “scratch queen” of her computer graphics class. Through that class, she also discovered that she loves logical reasoning aspects of programming and she has started planning for a career in computing.

Dessirree G. | Chicago, Illinois

2008 National Award Winner
Simeon Career Academy

Dessirree Gray enjoys learning the various aspects of computing, especially HTML codes. She is on the National Honor Roll and a member of National Honor Society, which showcase her abilities to perform in information technology. Dessirree will be attending Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University this fall and will study Computer Science in order to prepare her for a career as a Computer Technologist.

Diana L. | New York, New York

2008 National Award Winner
Stuyvesant High School

Diana Liskovich is involved in a mentoring program with the Information Technology Department at Morgan-Stanley. She has learned about the use of computer science in big companies, the way computer programs are organized, the business side of computer science and the importance of computers to the business world. Diana shows her leadership skills as an officer of the Women's Leadership Club at her school and is also a part of the highly competitive Columbia University Science Honors Program where she was a member of the math team. After high school, she plans to attend college and explore the different subjects within the field of computer science. She has found the field of software development and computer security to be very interesting and hopes to develop a career in these areas.

Diana A. | Seattle, Washington

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 Bay Area Affiliate Award Winner
Nathan Hale High School

Diana has been very interested in robotics for a long time, and a couple of years ago she heard about a website that contained robot recipes, and decided to try it out. The robot that she built as a result of this robot recipe (and some of her own workarounds) is one of Diana’s greatest accomplishments to date. Another achievement that Diana is very proud of is the fact that she was one of the founders of a group on the Scratch online community that designed and programmed games together. Diana and her friends founded Gray Bear Productions, and in its first year they produced and released six games. Today, their gallery contains more than 170 projects, including many works in progress. She believes that technology can be useful to everyone in one way or another, and that the potential of current and future technologies can be truly realized when more people become excited about computer science. She is working with a group to create a social networking game that focuses on teaching middle school children about computing and bio-informatics. Diana hopes that one day technology will be widely used as a major tool to educate our youth, and she aspires to create software that will help people communicate and work with each other.

Diana H. | Lawrenceville, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology

Ms. Diana Hernandez is a junior at Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology. While she doesn’t have much time outside of school and extracurricular activities, Diana enjoys hanging out with friends and family, watching geeky shows – most of which happen to be British, and learning random stuff. One of her proudest moments is being accepted to Governor’s Honors Program for physics last summer. She feels projects like her electric viola and amplifier created for a freshman physics project, one of her favorite projects, contributed to her selection for GHP. Diana says her father has had significant influence on her by instilling in her the philosophy that there is always a solution and its okay if something does not turn out “right” the first time.

At the top of her list of future plans is to be accepted into a summer internship program working with artificial intelligence. She also plans to attend college and continue working in robotics, and become more involved in the programming aspect of them.

Diana G. | Carnelius, North Carolina

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Pine Lake Preparatory

Over the past three years, Diana has co-founded both a FIRST Lego League team and a FIRST Robotics Competition team at her small charter school.  Since her school is small and it does not offer many technology or computing courses, Diana has learned many computer programs on her own. Her FIRST Lego League Team and her FIRST Robotics team have won several competitions and awards, which is impressive for a rookie team. Diana has learned to be a programmer and an animator for both teams. Now, Diana is the Animation Team Captain and founder, Scouting Team Captain, Website co-founder, and Web Team graphic artist, programmer and content writer for her Robotics Team. Diane has also volunteered her time to mentor younger students in the areas of STEM and she is now the head mentor for the after school program. In addition to being a mentor, she has displayed her robot to many of the students she mentors as well as at many fairs and business functions. Through her mentoring, Diana has been able to encourage young girls to go into a STEM field and has even been able to break the stigma of women to the boys she teaches. Diana hopes to study Computer Graphics and Animation and become a creative director for an animation studio.

Divya A. | Louisville, Colorado

2010 National Award Winner
Monarch High School

Divya is the Project Manager for her school’s robotics team, where her initial interest in technology was sparked. While she has always been interested in programming, the robotics team broadened her perspectives to include the design of future mechanical parts using SolidWorks 3D. She also attended a Summer Designer Seminar where she helped to build a robotic arm using CAD software.

Her effort led to her selection for a paid internship with NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. While working for NASA, Divya was involved with IT Support and Security and Asset Management tasks for the engineers in the Mission Operations Directorate.

Divya S. | Lisle, Illinois

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Naperville North High School

Divya began her path through technology courses as a freshman in an introductory class to programming and she noticed she was the only girl in the class. From there, Divya’s interests took off and then continued on to take many more computing and technology classes. Divya spent a summer interning at Northwestern University working with bio-informatics. She had to graphically represent the biological processes of the Dictyostelium Discoideum organism. This internship fueled her passion for combining the organic sciences and technology. Divya volunteers her time to a program that teaches senior citizens how to work computers. She is also a tutor at her school to teach other students how to use Windows Movie Maker and Photo Story. Divya is also the co-captain of her school’s Scholastic Bowl Team and she also works as an ambassador of sorts to new and transfer students to her school. Divya hopes to make a career out of bio-informatics.

Divya K. | San Diego, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Westview High School

For as long as she can remember, Divya has had a need to disassemble and reassemble everything just so she could get a peek inside to see how everything worked. Not only did she feel the need to do this, but she actually came to find that she was good at it. After enrolling in an AP computer science course, Divya realized that she specifically enjoyed disassembling and reassembling computers. Divya is the founder and president of her schools Cyber Security Club/Team, as well as an active member of her schools robotics team. Divya hopes to one day be able to use her talents to better society and achieve great advancements in the technological realm. 

Dominique E. | Omaha, Nebraska

2012 Nebraska & SW Iowa Affiliate Award Winner
Central High School

Dominique uses technology extensively via her Android and laptop. As the captain of her school’s cheerleading squad, she has helped them become digital, creating a movie of all their cheers and a “scrapbook movie” for all the girls in her squad. Dominique uses her expertise in computers to help her mother keep accounts electronically. She wants to become an accountant herself – a career goal that was influenced by her interest in math and computer science. Dominique’s dream is to create a completely interactive online accounting firm to help people manage their finances easily.

Dominique T. | Longmont, Colorado

2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Skyline High School

From a young age, Ms. Torres has had a knack for building, whether creating elaborate structures using Legos with her older brother or forts with her cousins. It wasn’t until she spent five weeks at UC Boulder that she discovered her love for electronics. As a senior, Dominique has taken classes involving the basics of LED lights, IOS processors, and HTML5 and even created a website for a school project. Dominique is just as active in sports, serving as a captain on the varsity basketball team in addition to lettering academically as well as in volleyball, softball, track and basketball. Ms. Torres was nominated for Homecoming Queen and even made the CHSAA Academic All State First Team. After graduating from Skyline High School with her STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) certification Dominique plans to attend Minnesota State University, to major in Electrical Engineering.

Ebone M. | Columbus, Georgia

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 and 2010 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Columbus High School

Ebone’s passion for computer science stems from her desire to utilize technology as a means to better society as a whole. She enjoys an extensive range of activities that encompass calculus, physics, micro-electrical engineering, and computer programming. Some of her accomplishments include building her very own desktop computer at the age of 11, developing a lighting predictor and detector (LightPAD) for the Lemelson-MIT foundation’s InvenTeams, participating in NASA’s Dropping in a Microgravity Environment (DIME), programming for ZERO Robotics, mentoring FIRST Lego League teams, and creating a Pico-satellite control system for the Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award. One of the most profound impacts in influencing her future pursuits is FIRST Robotics. The program has not only allowed her to learn to build robots, but has also given her the opportunity to discover her own potential in this field. Ebone plans to study computer science in college, and says her true purpose is to build relationships with people, learn, and grow with technology.

Eden W. | Oak Park, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Harvard-Westlake School

Ever since she was 6, Eden has had a passion for technology. She attended Destination-Science several times, a program focused around rockets, physics, and robots. Since then she has also attended HighTechHigh, where she built a robot out of Legos and programmed it to maneuver through obstacles. Eden has been accepted into selective academic programs for highly gifted youth at John Hopkins (CTY) and Stanford University (EPGY) and has eagerly participated in the programs for 5 summers studying Model-UN, Bio-Medicine, Psychology, Flight-Science (Aerodynamics & Physics) and Logic. At her school she has completed Introduction to Programming I & II and AP Computer Science A, Design and Data Structures Honors and is taking an artificial intelligence class online through Stanford University. Eden is the vice president of the Computer Science Club, and a member of the Robotics and Rocketry Club. She has also completed an internship at the Center for Embedded Network Sensing (CENS) in UCLA, where she was the head Android programming for her team. She also does extensive volunteer work and plans on having a double major studying computer science or artificial intelligence programming and biology.

Ekaterina T. | Germantown, Maryland

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Poolesville High School

For seven years, Ekaterina has been a student in a math, science, and computer science magnet program. As a middle school student, Ekaterina took animation classes where she was able to create a family website and she and some friends created a video game. In high school, she delved deeper into the world of computer science and programming. Ekaterina took an engineering class in which she built her own robot that could navigate unknown terrain and collect data. She has also created her own computer network and created a multiplayer checkers server. As a member of her school’s Computer Team, Ekaterina has competed in the USA Computing Olympiad and American Computer Science League and has now advanced to the Silver Division of USACO. Ekaterina recently interned at the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research at the University of Maryland, College Park where she worked on a bioengineering project to use a harmless plant virus to increase the efficiency of solar panels.  Ekaterina is also active in her school; she is the webmaster of her school’s chapter of Mu Alpha Theta Mathematics Honor Society and she has a created an online forum for math help for other students. She is also a member of the National Honor Society and the Spanish Honor Society. Ekaterina also helps tutor students in physics and a Java programming class. In the future, Ekaterina hopes to major in a sub discipline of engineering or possibly go into an interdisciplinary program with computer science and biology.

Elana S. | Culver City, California

2012 National Award Winner
Harvard Westlake High School

When Elana was young she was intrigued with the way things worked and took apart everyday appliances to see how they functioned. This young interest has now blossomed into a passion for computer science. She has not only built her own computer but also helped with research on Master-Slave Control of an Anthropomorphic Robotic Arm using the Xbox Kinect. Through her in time at the UCLA High School Summer Engineering Program she was able to work on the control of a robotic arm for its possible uses in the medical world or even in situations of disarming a bomb. Elana is also a Technical Sergeant in the Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary organization of the United States Air Force. This past year she was selected as the Cadet of the Year and has also participated in the Digital Forensics Challenge created by the US Air Force and Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center. Elana hopes to unite her two passions of computer science and military by working in government service and homeland security.

Elena N. | Fairfax, Virginia

2011 National Award Winner
W.T. Woodson High School

Elena was one of four girls in her 30-student AP Computer Science class. As the robotics club president, Elena led her team to third place out of 52 regional competitors and onto the international competition. She has also published a paper for the Global Conference on Educational Robotics (GCER) based on her experience programming a Roomba in low-byte, highbyte number sequence.

Elena is also an entrepreneur. She sells jewelry made with computer parts at www.LeanTheBean.com. She strips old computers down to the last resistor and incorporates the parts with sterling silver to create jewelry. Currently, Elena is a Computer Science major at Virginia Tech. She is working on e-commerce website development with an interest in participating in an e-textiles research lab during the Spring 2012 semester. Elena is also considering a co-op summer experience with the scientific research company, SAIC.

Elicia D. | Denver, Colorado

2012 National Award Winner
George Washington High School

Elicia spends her days focused on computer science and community service. She competed with her school’s FIRST Robotics team her freshman year. She is the secretary for her schools Raveled Threads club, which makes blankets for premature babies at a local hospital. She is the president of the club Patriots of Hope, and Elicia also founded the STEM club at her school to provide students with the technology materials they need. Elicia also helps the teachers at her school to better understand their classroom technology and to integrate technology effectively. Although Elicia first wanted to be a programmer, she has now turned her attention to wanting to study computer hardware engineering, and ultimately she would like to find a way to make technology more accessible for people in low income situations.

Elisa P. | Charlotte, North Carolina

2009 National Award Winner
Olympic High (METS)

Elisa is enrolled in the School of Math Engineering Technology and Science on the Olympic campus. She has been the executive leader for her Robotics Team and likes to be involved with as many engineering and robotics events and programs as possible. Elisa is the Chief Financial Officer for the robotics team. She enjoys getting other students interested in engineering.

She hopes to receive a Robotics Engineering Degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Elisa will continue to work on robotics programs to help get younger students interested in science and technology.

Elisabeth M. | Chicago, Illinois

2008 National Award Winner
University of Chicago Laboratory High School

Elisabeth Morant is interested in every aspect of computing culture, from video games to mp3 players to video cards, but her main interest resides in gaming.  She has been taking many computer science courses including courses at the University of Chicago. Elisabeth is currently competing in math and computer science in the World Youth in Science and Engineering competition. After high school, she plans to attend Harvard where she intends to enroll in courses in mathematics, engineering and computer science. She hopes to work for an organization with philanthropic goals, such as One Laptop One Child.

Elizabeth M. | Fort Collins, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Poudre High School

Elizabeth was the captain and head programmer for the FIRST Robotics Competition Team 159: Alpine Robotics. She has been the head programmer on two robots and assisted on a third; and she has worked on implementing challenging features such as autonomous programs, traction control, and mecanum drives. Prior to FRC, she was on the FIRST Lego League team, and has since mentored other FLL teams with Girl Scouts and schools in her city. She is an active and accomplished Girl Scout, earning Silver and Gold awards for service projects such as organizing a public forum informing people about ballot measures.

She is hoping to study software engineering in college, with the aspiration of applying this to modeling water systems and water resource management.

Elizabeth L. | Dallas, Texas

2008 National Award Winner
School for the Talented and Gifted

Elizabeth Lass has been interested in the field of technology since she was very young. She has been enthusiastic about enrolling in various computer courses throughout her education. These courses allow her to gain a sense of accomplishment from her work and maintain her fascination with the various concepts behind technology. Elizabeth is co-captain of her school’s Computer Science Club and a member of her school’s robotics team. Elizabeth is in the process of exploring colleges, specifically Carnegie Mellon, UC Berkeley and Stanford University. She plans to major in Computer Science and pursue a career in research and development. She wants to use her passion for computers to change the daily lives of people.

Elizabeth W. | Shrewsbury, Massachusetts

2012 National Award Runner-Up
AMSA Charter School

Since sixth grade, Elizabeth has been taken classes centered on science and technology. She created her own website in eighth grade for a class and then designed another website for her father’s company. Elizabeth plans to self-study AP Computer Science in order to take an engineering course in school. She has studied several different computing programs, such as CAD, Alice, and Fireworks. Elizabeth is active in her Student Council and is an assistant coach for gymnastics. She was also the co-captain of a team for the annual Cancer Walk in 2009 and helped raise nearly $1000 for cancer research. Elizabeth hopes to eventually work for Google or Apple or start her own technology company. She hopes to work in either web design or electrical engineering or robotics.

Ella W. | Columbus, Indiana

2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
Columbus North High School

Ella is very interested in Computer Aided Design. She has participated in her school's Project Lead the Way Pre-Engineering Program, and through the program has taken Introduction to Engineering Design, Principles of Engineering, Digital Electronics, and Computer Integrated Manufacturing. She is also a member of the National Honor Society and the Key Club.

Ella plans to study mechanical engineering in college and aerospace engineering in graduate school.

Ellan H. | Beemer, Nebraska

2012 Nebraska & SW Iowa Affiliate Award Winner
West Point High School

Ellan has been interested in and taken many different courses in technology in her high school. She and her friends used Adobe Premiere Pro to create a video of her hometown, which won first place in the CYN Summit video contest. Ellan is in charge of updating and maintaining her school’s Web site. She feels that today’s world is very dependent on technology. Ellan plans for a career in agriculture or business and knows that the computer skills she learned at school and her interest in learning new technology will help her in this goal.

Ellyn G. | Littleton, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Heritage High School

Ellyn’s interest in computer science is quite diverse, and she has yet to find an insurmountable challenge. Since sixth grade she’s participated in the TSA (Technology Student Association), entering such competitions as Imaging Technology and Animatronics. Ellyn also belongs to a team that qualified for the international rounds of F1 in Schools, a competition where students design, build, and race miniature, CO2-powered, Formula One cars. She has done exceedingly well in these competitions earning 15 state titles and 5 national rankings! On top of all this, Ellyn teaches and supports other students in the technology lab at her high school.

Ellyn will be enrolling in the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the Fall and intends to major in marketing and use that as a launching pad into the technology side of business.

Emilia K. | Palo Alto, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Palo Alto High School

Emilia has been programming since the 6th grade, both with traditional programming languages like C++ and Java, and through graphical interfaces like Lego Mindstorms, Alice, and GameMaker. She is a programming captain on an all-girls FIRST Robotics team which she has been a member of for the last three years. This past summer she participated in the NASA Ames Robotics Academy which is a summer program that brings together college and high school interns from all over the country to design an ultra-small lunar rover. She contributed very heavily on the Command & Data Handling team, which programs command execution on the rover, and the process by which information is sent back and forth between the rover and the ground station. Emilia wants to combine her interest in art and writing with computer science and eagerly looks towards the future.

Emilie F. | Grapevine, Texas

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Carroll Senior High School

Emilie is very proud in being nominated by her teacher to attend the IBM innovations camp.  While there she learned how to install an operating system on to a computer, how to write apps for Android phones, and how to communicate with a server during the camp.  She is enrolled in a robotics class at her school where she works with the RobotC language and has learned more about the hardware side of computer science during the fabrication of a NXT Robot.  Emilie is also very involved in the Odyssey of the Mind team, and is even the President of the school’s Odyssey of the Mind student board.  Her team has competed at the World Finals six times, and the state and regional levels for ten years, and have earned 2nd and 3rd place finishes at the world finials competition.  Outside of computing she is in the marching band at her school and has been a counselor for two years at an elementary level Geo-Caching camp.  Emilie would like to major in either computer engineering or computer science.

Emilie R. | San Francisco, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Lycee Francais La Perouse

Emilie has been heavily involved in many technology programs and companies. She has even developed her own apps for the Android, including an app for the game M.A.S.H. and a couple that are geared for healthy kids.  Emilie has gone to camps with Google and now works for Storytelling Media as a developer of the TechCentralSF database. Emilie is also very involved with international programs through her school. She has helped create international student exchange programs with China, Taiwan and France. She has also been politically active as a reporter at the Democratic National Convention and Obama inauguration. Emilie has many aspirations for the future but is most fascinated by AI, robotics, and how neuroscience and technology can come together to help improve the lives of those that have physical and mental disabilities.

Emily T. | Natick, Massachusettes

2011 Massachusettes Affiliate Award Winner
Natick High School

Emily has her father Joseph to thank for his influence on her interest in computer science.  For years he has been building computer systems in their home and got Emily’s assistance from a young age. He has always encouraged her in her computing projects, most significantly the earning of her A+ certification last year. Her greatest technical accomplishment has been earning her A+ certification as an IT technician. 

Emily is looking forward to enrolling in an electrical engineering program and currently is using her CAD programming skills to design a lawn-care robot.

Emily P. | Indianapolis, Indiana

2012 National Award Winner, 2012 and 2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
Ben Davis University High School

When Emily isn’t working as a web designer for Boomerang Results Marketing, she enjoys creating Android and iPhone applications for her peers to help them excel in school. Emily took the initiative to ask her principal if she could build android applications to further enhance the students learning environment. Not only did they want her to build the applications for her school, but they also asked her to build these applications for the district. With this, she founded a club that taught her peers how to program using Java, XML, and how to relate these programs to Android development. Emily is passionate about utilizing technology to aid in education, and she dreams of attending Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology to study computer science and from there attend either MIT or Caltech.

Emily K. | Chicago, Illinois

2009 National Award Winner
University of Chicago Laboratory Schools

Emily learned math-oriented computer programming through the Young Scholars Program camp. Emily used numerous computer languages and worked on projects involving tessellations, cryptography and even had to figure out how to print out Pascal’s Triangle. Emily’s favorite part of the camp was working on cryptography. The students were given ciphered text and wrote programs to determine the key and decode the text. Emily is most interested in projects that involve robots and electronics. She is also interested in designing and programming hardware.

Emily is attending MIT and is studying Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

Emily V. | Zanesville, Ohio

2011 Ohio Affiliate Award Winner
Homeschool

Emily’s dad has inspired her to learn computers since she was 3 years old. She helped her dad worked on constructing wireless internet towers that covered around 1000 square miles. She loves to program video games and would like to use her skills in technology to assist the handicapped to allow them to live more independently.

Emily plans to major in computer science when she attends college. She feels empowered knowing that she has had amazing technical experiences.

Emily R. | Las Cruces, New Mexico

2011 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Las Cruces High School

Emily’s interest in programming grew as she participated in Young Women in Computing at NMSU. She has programmed in C and has worked with computer animation programs. In school, Emily now helps teach students material needed for the State Wildlife Judging contest after having won this contest with her team last year.

Emily R. | Suwanee, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
North Gwinnett High School

Emily has been involved with computing and technology for many years and has worked with Java, HTML, CSS, Python, and C++. At the beginning of her junior year, her computer science teacher chose her to help with redesigning her high school’s website and was put in charge of designing a template for every teacher’s site to give them continuity. As a senior, she was responsible for creating and updating different sports, clubs, and other school sites. She has been involved with Robotics for three years and is currently the vice president of her robotics team. Emily is planning on attending Georgia Tech where she wants to pursue either software/hardware engineering, pure or applied mathematics, or physics.

Emily K. | York, Nebraska

2012 Nebraska & SW Iowa Affiliate Award Winner
York High School

Emily took courses on computer applications and html design during her freshman and sophomore years. She loves looking up new cell phone apps. Her main interest is in hardware and electrical engineering. She likes designing circuits and even soldering the circuit board. It is no wonder that her family and friends go to her to get things fixed. Emily plans to get a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering. Her dream career is to create the latest and best in technology – like her hero, Steve Jobs.

Emma K. | Sherwood, Oregon

2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner, 2010 Portland Affiliate Award Winner
Sherwood High School

Emma has many interests in technology, including robotics, engineering, and architecture, as well as outreach to younger students. She is the current captain of the robotics club at her high school, where she has designed and built robots for competitions at Oregon State University and at the state level. In the team’s rookie year, they placed seventeenth at the state competition, after completely rebuilding their robot in the two weeks between competitions. Emma is most proud of a project in which she used her knowledge of CAD programs to create a Harley Davidson replica and stand out of wood and plastic as a gift for her uncle.

Finally, as captain of the robotics team, Emma organizes outreach activities at the elementary and middle schools to interest more kids in robotics. She plans to study architecture or engineering after high school.

Emma M. | Seattle, Washington

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Garfield High School

Since Emma took her first computer science course in an effort to merely meet graduation requirements, she has been passionate about computing. A computing related achievement that Emma is very proud of is the fact that in her junior year of high school she was able to travel to Guatemala with a non-profit organization called Technology Service Corps in order to refurbish old and worn down computers in poor and underprivileged communities.  Emma was fortunate enough to be an intern at Microsoft this past summer which she feels was an invaluable experience from which she gained so much knowledge. Emma realizes that she is not only passionate about computing but also about helping people and she hopes that in the future she will be able to combine these two passions to benefit society. 

Erica H. | Gresham, Oregon

2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
Centennial High School

During her sophomore year, Erica entered a Saturday Academy Apprenticeships in Science and Engineering Internship. She worked in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Portland State University under Dr. Christof Teuscher and helped to model self-assembling computer networks using MIT's StarLogo language.

Erica's parents are the most influential people in her life because they have supported her in her pursuit of robotics and immersed her in the "geeky" culture of engineers. Erica plans to pursue a degree and career in robotics.

Erin S. | Orange Park, Florida

2010 Florida Affiliate Award Winner
Orange Park High School

Erin is a student at the Academy of Engineering and Design Technology at her school. She recently switched her focus to networking and has gained a new interest in the building and construction of computers and has also discovered robotics. In one of her new classes she is learning to work on LabSim in the hope that she will be able to take and pass the network plus certification at the end of the year.

Erin is an active participant in many school organizations. She is the coeditor-in-chief of her school's yearbook, president of Anchor Club, vice-president of National Honor Society, historian of Spanish Honor Society, a member of Future Business Leaders of America, and a member of the Marketing, Business and Accounting club at her school.

Erin H. | Glen Burnie, Maryland

2009 National Award Winner
Glen Burnie Senior High

Erin has taken every computer science course that her high school offers and is the President of the Computer Science Club. Erin actively participates in programming competitions through the Computer Science Club. In addition to becoming active in her school’s Botball Club, she has competed in three semi-annual Anne Arundel County Computer Programming Competitions, the 17th Annual University of Maryland High School Programming Contest and the Johns Hopkins Robotic System Challenge.

Erin plans to major in Computer Engineering and would like to earn her Master’s of Business Administration to prepare her for work in Software Engineering or Database Design.

Erin K. | Columbus, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 Georgia Affiliate Winner
Columbus High School

Ms. Erin King is a senior at Columbus High School. Her favorite extracurricular activities are FIRST Robotics and Amateur (Ham) Radio Activities, as well as reading and learning about the latest in consumer electronics technology. Erin’s proudest achievement is definitely being accepted early into MIT, the school of her dreams. She credits her dad for being most inspirational in her life. He has always taught her the joys of working with technology and has inspired her to get involved in robotics, Ham radio, and everything else that led her to chose a course of study in computer science and electrical engineering.

Erin’s next step is attending MIT and applying to attend a summer camp at Google. She is excited to face the challenges and opportunities ahead of her.

Erinn C. | Henderson, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Prairie View High School

Erinn does not believe in wasting time; as a junior in high school, she can already claim to be an artist, web designer, actress, author and journalist! She is also an officer of one of the top twelve high school vocal music groups in the state. Erinn became interested in technology due to its progressive nature and after learning how the internet works she's been studying how to utilize it and the technologies that it enables. Her greatest technical accomplishment has been the completion of her thesis on the evolution of technology, and a published essay concerning the sociological nature of the internet. As a technologist she's fascinated by how the internet connects billions of people and allows them to share information. As an artist and designer, what most fascinates her is how that information is expressed, delivered, portrayed and interpreted by those who view it.

Erinn currently plans to attend college at Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design and complete her Master's in Visual Communications Design, so she can use it to take part in the reform of modern interface design.

Eryn P. | El Paso, Texas

2012 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Winner
Chapin High School

Eryn uses computing and technology in conjunction with Fishertechnik and VEX, which are components to program and build miniature robots designed to complete a certain task. The program she is most proud of is the program she wrote using ROBOPro, for an elevator. However, without a doubt the best thing she uses technology for is volunteering. Every Sunday, she runs the audio-visual board for the children's sermon at her church. She is one of the top three students in her class, and is a member of the National Honor Society, the National Mathematics Honor Society, and the Technology Student Association. Eryn is considering a career in computer programming as it relates to robotics and bio-medical engineering. She enjoys using JCreator, ROBOTC, and ROBOPro. In the future, she hopes to have a career that will allow her the opportunity to build prostheses that incorporate computer software that could better mimic the human body.

Estefania O. | Guaynabo, Puerto Rico

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 Puerto Rico Affiliate Award Winner
Homeschool

Estefania was motivated to pursue computer science by classes she took over the summer at Carnegie Mellon University. They were her first programming classes, and by taking them she fell in love with the field. Estefania was the secretary of her school’s technology club, and volunteered to be the one to learn about computer science for her Science Bowl competition. One of her greatest inventions was called Spinky, which is an original game designed to develop and/or reinforce intellectual skills. She created this game as a research project during the fall 2011 semester in a CCCE Research Academy. She is currently taking online Stanford courses, such as Programming Methodology and Introduction to Artifical Intelligence. Estefania recently learned that she was accepted into Stanford University where she hopes to major in Software Engineering. She would like to work as a software developer either by starting her own business or working at a major tech company.

Evelyn D. | Cupertino, California

2011 Bay Area Affiliate Award Winner
Monta Vista High School

Evelyn is interested in applying math and science concepts in creative ways.  She is deeply involved in her school's FIRST Robotics Team #115 for the past three years, and is currently its Director of Operations. She has learned to work with different sensors to optimize robot performance and how to program in Labview. She has helped lead the team to inspire younger students to pursue STEM fields by starting lego leagues and teaching a physics afterschool program at the local elementary school. She enjoys everything related to artificial intelligence, and has attended international robotics conferences. Evelyn has also learned Java and Objective-C and applied her programming skills by developing apps for both the iPhone and Android. She also enjoys creating things in her own time, including a light-following minibot made with a custom circuit board and electronics collected from her family's old VCR. She researches a variety of fields that interest her such as sound attenuation and networking.

Fatmira C. | Staten Island, New York

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Staten Island Technical High School

As a freshman, Fatmira has already received numerous awards from members of Congress, Senators, the Staten Island Borough President, the NY State Assembly, and even a certificate from the President's Education Awards Program. Since third grade, Fatmira has worked with a former Wall Street technical instructor as a teacher/mentor and has learned about computers from her.  Fatmira recently joined a program called SERP (Science Engineering Research Program) to help her to discover if research is really part of her future goals.

Fatmira is aiming towards attending an Ivy League college and until then is exploring her various interests including: Computer Science, Engineering, Business, and Scientific Research.

Felicia T. | Brockton, Massachusetts

2011 Massachusetts Affiliate Award Winner
Brockton High School

Felicia has her older brother Fitzgerald to thank for his encouragement to pursue computer science. Ever since Felicia was young he always encouraged her to be active in technology. The first computer that she ever touched was one of his and the first time she ever learned how to install an operating system, was with him by her side. If it wasn't for his encouragement she wouldn't have been able to accomplish all that she has. Felicia’s greatest technical accomplishment was when she built her first computer on her own.

In the future Felicia sees herself working with technology, maybe in a business somewhere. Eventually she’d like to give back to her community and teach computer courses at her high school. An interesting fact about Felicia is that by age five she could power up a computer and navigate her way to applications that she wanted to use.

Flora T. | Staten Island, New York

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Staten Island Technical High School

Flora is a member of the robotics team, and as a programmer for their projects she codes in C++ via Windriver. She was inspired to learn coding when she taught herself HTML and Photoshop so that she could design and build her own website.

Upon graduation from high school, Flora plans to major in biomedical engineering. She believes that engineering is essential to the advancement of health care, and that engineering has broadened the scope of resources available for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. She sees biomedical engineering as a field that provides endless opportunities to make new discoveries that will lead to the most up-to-date medical device technology.

Gabriella S. | South Hadley, Massachusetts

2009 National Award Winner
The MacDuffie School

Gabriella was highly involved at her high school and served as the Senior Class Vice President. She founded her own website, the Girl’s Pokemon Battling Alliance. This website is Gabriella’s inspiration for learning more about programming languages like C++ and PHP. She worked on developing a self-made version of the website so that it does not have to run on freeware.

Gabriella is attending Mount Holyoke College and is studying Computer Science because of her love of technology. She wants to use a career in engineering to tackle major world problems and to become a leader in developing future technologies.

Gabriella G. | Boston, Massachusettes

2011 Massachusettes Affiliate Award Winner
Boston Latin School

Gabriella has Lauren Simmons, an MIT student, to thank for her passion for computer science.  Gabriella joined her school's National Society of Black Engineers chapter in 2008 and was the only girl at the time. Lauren helped Gabriella see how great of an organization NSBE was and that there are many females that are capable of great things in the engineering field.

Gabriella plans on attending a college with a great engineering program, specifically Columbia University. After receiving both her bachelors and masters, she wants to go on and work at a company where she will be able to put her expertise to work.  She also wants to take her knowledge to help others less fortunate then she is, and make life easier for them.

Gabrielle R. | New York, New York

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Winner
Horace Mann School

Gabrielle has had an interest in math since she was a toddler, so taking computer science at Horace Mann was a logical elective for her. It was the energy and creativity of the computer science courses at Horace Mann with Ms. Smith that really inspired her to take two summer engineering programs, AP computer science, and an Independent Study, as well as participate in the CS club. This year she completed an independent study in computer science, and she worked with Bezier curves, which have a fascinating mathematical background and are used in computer graphics. She also explored computer graphics and developed a computer game that uses artificial intelligence.

Gabrielle is excited to be entering Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science in the fall and will explore a variety of fields within computer science. This summer she is studying discrete mathematics and artificial intelligence at Columbia.

Gabrielle R. | Charlotte, North Carolina

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology

Throughout high school, Gabrielle has taken as many computer and technology courses as she can, from programming to computer hardware.  With this knowledge, she has taught those in her community how to use Microsoft Office and Photoshop and she continues these classes with her club, Future Business Leaders of America. As secretary of FBLA and the Gay-Straight Alliance, Gabrielle has helped organize meetings and community service projects. One such project was to create a drop off box of video games for a local children’s hospital. Gabrielle has also written and performed an anti-bullying play and has also been the chief editor for her school’s newspaper. Gabrielle also volunteers her free to work in a local food bank. Gabrielle hopes to pursue a college degree in Computer Science and to become a programmer to create a program that teaches children computer skills.

Galina M. | Calabasas, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Viewpoint School

Galina has been involved with computer science since her first class in middle school. Since then she has explored the dynamic field in depth both in and out of the lab. In the last year alone she has worked on programming to distinguish epilepsy from pseudo-seizures given an EEG and medical history, a program that will process any dynamic system, displaying the results graphically in real time, and a political speech parser which implements machine learning for natural language processing and categorization. Galina doesn’t know what kind of job she wants but envisions herself as anything from a research scientist to simply an outspoken citizen, but she knows it will have something to do surrounding the field of computer science. 

Garima G. | Jacksonville, Florida

2009 National Award Winner
Stanton College Prep High School

Garima was involved with a program aimed to inspire and recognize students involved in science and technology. In 2009, she lead the programming section of her team. The team has won two Florida Regional Competitions and placed well at the National Competition. Garima attended a summer camp where she learned to assemble and program Lego Mindstorms NXT Robotics. She developed a data acquisition system to collect voltage data from a solar panel at fixed intervals for a Science Fair Project. Garima won first place at the Regional level and third place at the State Science Fair.

Garima is attending Caltech and is majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Aerospace Engineering, and is on her way to her dream job of becoming an astronaut.

Geralyn D. | New Albany, Indiana

2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
New Albany High School

Geralyn has taken a computer class every year of high school. In the spring of 2010, she and her classmates had the opportunity to participate in the Indiana Technoly Fair.  She and her classmate took 2nd place.  This was a turning point in her programming career, and it opened her eyes and made her realize that although it had been a competition, it was also fun every step of the way.  

As a result of the Indiana Technology Fair and the Indiana Aspiration Awards, Geralyn plans to pursue a career in computing.

Grace G. | Port Lavaca, Texas

2011 National Award Winner
Calhoun High School

The summer after freshman year Grace attended the Canada/USA Math Summer Camp as its youngest participant that year. Grace has extended her knowledge of programming languages beyond Java to Wolfram Mathematica, Matlab, and Python. She recently interned in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where she was exposed to nanotech phase imaging research. There, she helped develop a prototype of a microscope that would be used in the future in the Advanced Light Source. Her research earned her the prestigious award of National Intel Science Talent Search (STS) Semifinalist.

In school, she has won a number of accolades for her work in computer science including receiving a 5 on the AP Computer Science test and Best Student of the Year. Grace is her Robotics Club’s main programmer.

Grace is currently attending Harvard University as an undergraduate freshman and plans to study Computer Science. During the summer of 2011, Grace participated in the International Summer Science Institute (ISSI) program that took place at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

Grace S. | Omaha, Nebraska

2012 Nebraska & SW Iowa Affiliate Award Winner
Omaha North High School

Grace has been creating Power Point slides since she was eight years old. From second grade onward, she has been using computers in her schoolwork. Grace was selected to attend the Information Technology in Workplace conference, where she and her friends put together a video of their vision of life in 2017. She was involved in a project for the Society of American Military Engineers to develop ID cards with RFID tags that would automate activities like paying for lunch or checking out books from the library. Grace plans to pursue her interest in computers through college to get her dream job of working with advanced technology.

Grace Y. | Hudson, Ohio

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Hathaway Brown School

Ever since she first learned to program in Alice in middle school and she attended a Women in Engineering camp, Grace has had a growing interest in computer science and engineering. Her passion for computing has led her to collaborate with NASA, as well as the University of Akron computer science department. One of the achievements that Grace is most proud of was when a paper she wrote about her work with NASA was published and she had the opportunity to present it at the 10th International Space Conference on Protection of Materials and Structures from the Space Environment in Okinawa, Japan.  In the future grace hopes to attend MIT and double major in computer science and biomedical engineering, and she ultimately plans to find a way to combine her musical affinity with her interest in computer science in some way. 

Gracie S. | Dallas, Texas

2008 National Award Winner
TAG Magnet at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center

Gracie Saunders has demonstrated her interests and skills in computing and information technology by enrolling in every computer-related course at her high school. She was a participant in the Computer Science and Engineering Academic Bridge Camp at the University of Texas at Dallas and a Summer Leadership Academy sponsored by the Viterbi Center for Engineering Diversity at USC. Gracie is attending the University of Southern California in the fall where she will be double-majoring in Computer Engineering and Theater. She hopes to pursue a career during college as a computer floater for a company or movie team.

Haley B. | Springdale, Arkansas

2012 Arkansas & NE Oklahoma Affiliate Award Winner
Har-Ber High School

Haley always thought that she would pursue a career in dancing, but after her junior year she has decided to major in Information Technology. She currently works as a computer technology assistant at her school. During Haley's junior year, she took first place overall in Database Design & Application at her district FBLA completion and placed in the top 10 overall at the state level. Haley credits Mrs. Barbara Dickard for encouraging her to pursue computing.

Hannah W. | Lafayette, Colorado

2011 National Award Winner
Centaurus High School

Hannah’s passion is biomedical engineering. She loves the interaction between modern technology, and biology — specifically, in human anatomy and physiology — chemistry and physics. Some of her past projects include simulating the repair of a torsion “femur” break by repairing broken turkey bones, constructing a prosthetic leg and hand, and creating a new type of heart valve. Hannah has spent significant time this year working on her IB major design project; the development of an athletic shoe that can be used for multiple sports, fit an active life style and would save money.

Over the past few summers, Hannah volunteered at Learning Adventure Center, a computer skills-based camp, emphasizing modern technology, for children ages 2-7. After high school, she aspires to major in biomedical engineering or a neurobiology related field, coach basketball and design shoes for Nike someday.

Hannah K. | Colorado Springs, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Pine Creek High School

Hannah took her first programming class as a freshman because it was the only course that fit in her schedule. To her surprise, she loved it and has proved to have quite the talent for it, even winning a recognition of achievement from the technology department that year. She has sailed through many of the technology classes her school offers, and has plans to take the rest. Recently she acted as a teacher’s assistant for the school’s Programming 2 class, and she took an Oracle class and became certified in Oracle 9i SQL.

Hannah knows several programming languages and wants to tackle web programming and design next. She has assisted local elementary school teams in LEGO robotics competitions, and hopes to continue doing so until she moves on to her college work in either applied computer science or database design.

Hannah T. | Grand Junction, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Central High School

Hannah’s inspiration for computer science came from Walt Disney Imaginations Engineers. The philosophy that you can achieve your dreams if you believe and never stop trying convinced her that if she works at it, she can become an Imagineer and design rides and attractions for the Disney Parks. She’s off to a great start – she taught herself CSS and HTML in middle school. More recently, she designed, developed, and programmed a computer game from the ground up for her programming class. Hannah’s game creates virtual creatures, using user input to select from more than 50 variables.

In addition to her computer science successes, Hannah volunteers locally and has won several awards (including the University of Colorado’s Outstanding Junior of the Year Award) in recognition of her accomplishments.

Hannah T. | Chicago, Illinois

2012 National Award Runner-Up
University of Chicago Laboratory High School

Hannah first realized that she had a passion for computing during her freshman year of high school when she took her first computer science course. Through this course she learned the basic concepts of programming and web design, and her passion only grew from there. Now she is a junior in high school and she has advanced beyond the classes offered at her high school so she has moved on to taking college level computing courses. One of her proudest and most memorable moments was when she was one of two girls chosen to represent her school at the Science Careers in Search of Women conference at the Argonne National Laboratory. She is positive that she wants to obtain a degree in computer science or computer programming. 

Hannah R. | Chicago, Illinois

2012 National Award Runner-Up
University of Chicago Laboratory High School

Once she took an AP computer science course, Hannah was positive that computer science was her calling. Taking this course really taught her how to think critically about computing and how to become a better problem solver. In her spare time, Hannah is currently helping to set up a book reviewing program for public schools in the south side of Chicago and she hopes that even after she moves on from this project, her work and the time spent contributing will continue to benefit the youth of Chicago. Hannah is very interested in spreading knowledge about computing, the power of technology and the incredible amount of untapped potential that exists in the realm of technology. She plans to attend college to obtain a degree and computer science and plans to use her knowledge and skills to spread the work about computer science. 

Hayley M. | New Albany, Ohio

2011 Ohio Affiliate Award Winner
New Albany High School

Hayley has always been very interested in technology and has taken technology related courses in high school. She started to work full-time at her school during the summer as a Digital Networking Assistant, fixing and installing computers for her school district. For her senior project, she started a technology course in a local retirement home in which she helps senior citizens learn various technological skills.

Hayley will be attending Marietta College and plans to major in education in order to teach middle school.

Helen P. | Atlanta, Georgia

2011 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Pace Academy

Helen is a senior at Pace Acadeher. Designing and building robots is her favorite activity. She is also interested in audio/visual technology through both her work for Knight –Flix and her school’s theater program. In her free time, she enjoys creating mods for games. In school related activities, she has broadened her experience with technology through robotics and Knight-Flix, which is a program to record events such as varsity sports games. At the same time her camera work is being broadcast over the internet so those at home can watch the game. " A fun fact about Helen is that thanks to her computer science and theater knowledge, she put together a light show for her school's talent show. When she attends college, she intends to take Computer graphics courses. She also plans to get a 5 on the AP Computer Science Exam.

Helen H. | Alexandria, Virginia

2012 National Award Winner
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

Thanks to a required freshmen course in computer science, Helen was able to discover her passion for computer science and computer engineering. In the summer of 2010, Helen was the teacher’s assistant for the same class that captivated her interest as a freshman. She has taken classes in Artificial Intelligence and Java and is proficient in Python, C, HTML, Javascript, PHP and SQL. Helen interned at the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC and worked in the Center for High Assurance Computer Systems. She is currently researching the effect of different types of noise on channel capacity. Aside from her technical accomplishments, Helen is also the student body president and captain of the softball team. She hopes to continue her education in computer science as well as help other girls with the opportunity to pursue careers in computer science.

Hiranya M. | Miami Lakes, Florida

2011 National Award Winner
Miami Lakes Educational Center

Hiranya is interested in a variety of technology related projects, including robotics, networking, and programming. Hiranya is involved in Women of Tomorrow, where she encourages young girls to explore IT and become professionals. She is Vice President of SECME , and head of the Robotic Hand team working on creating and programming a bionic hand.

Because of her dedication and accomplishments, Hiranya received the I.T. Essentials Award, and became CompTIA A+ Certified. Her enthusiasm for learning computer systems runs deep, and she is currently enrolled in Cisco’s NetRiders and NetRiders Security competitions. Hiranya plans to attend Georgia Tech to study computer engineering.

Holly M. | Munster, Indiana

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
Munster High School

Holly’s parents and science teachers encouraged her to pursue computing by showing her the fun in science. She considers her 7 year involvement with FIRST Lego League to be her greatest technical accomplishment. She has worked on her robotics team in mechanical design, CAD, project research, and programming.  Her team has received several awards including two Indiana State Championship Awards for 2nd place, State Robot performance 2nd place (State high score), State Research 3rd place, one regional 1st place and other awards for machine design and teamwork.

Holly is also proud of placing 5th in the optics event for the 2010 Science Olympiad National Tournament. She plans to attend college for Computer Science or Electrical Engineering.

Hong D. | Tigard, Oregon

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Tigard High School

While living in Vietnam, Hong discovered her passion for computer science at the age of 13, and in her free time she taught herself computer skills and competed in district-wide competitions. Once Hong’s family moved to the United States Hong was able to take more computer science courses and get involved with technology clubs. Hong’s greatest accomplishment so far comes from joining her school’s technology team and creating the team’s website. Aside from her technology focused life Hong volunteers as a local church as well as teaches Vietnamese to teenage students. Hong wants to major in mechanical engineering and be able to truly prove herself all those who have doubted her ability to succeed in computer science.

Hope W. | Hialeah, Florida

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Miami Lakes Educational Center

Hope initially started using her programming skills in robotics, but now has become more computer focused. At the Miami Lakes Educational Center Hope studies in the CISCO Networking Academy. One of her largest accomplishments was helped to start her school’s Information Technology Club. Hope also participated in the Girls to Tech program at her school where her passion for computer science truly grew. Hope has not only been a leader in computer science but has also served as the class president, student advisor to the school board, and an intern at Florida International University working with biofuels. In the future Hope plans to study Information Technology and Business.

Houmin H. | Portland, Oregon

2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
Oregon Episcopal School

Houmin participated in her school's robotics club, and last year she and her partner built several NXT robots. Her favorite was a popping ballon robot which could go around, find a balloon, and pop it. Her record was popping 8 balloons in 18 seconds. Through various challenges, she and her partner were constantly brainstorming, creating, building, and modifying to create the perfect balloon popping robot.

Houmin plans to attend college for Business and Computer Programming.

Idzel C. | Freedom, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Watsonville High School

Idzel has had a passion for computing and technology since she was in Middle School. She was with a program called Girl Game Company (GGC) which teaches girls in sixth through eighth grade create computer games. Idzel’s biggest accomplishment in her young computer science career was winning the Bay Area Affiliate award her freshmen year in high school. This gave her more confidence and faith in herself in the computing field. Idzel hopes to finish high school and attend either the University of California Santa Cruz or University of California Santa Barbara. She wants to study and become a hardware computer engineer and dreams of working with Intel, IBM, or Google.

Iesha L. | Sanford, Florida

2010 Florida Affiliate Award Winner
Seminole High School

Iesha is involved in web design classes at her school, taking AP computer science and programming classes at Seminole State College. Iesha enjoys taking leadership roles in her school by helping other students with problems in her web design classes and encouraging other young women in her school to take computer classes. She is a member of National Honor Society, where she is able to do community service and give back to her community. 

n the future Iesha hopes to major in computer science, leading to a career as a game programmer and is also interested in the fields of web programming and design. 

Ifrah T. | Iselin, New Jersey

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Middlesex County Academy for Science, Mathematics and Engineering Technologies

Ifrah’s greatest technical accomplishment has been programming in assembly language in order to control a microcontroller. Prior to that, she and her brother played games, which ignited her curiosity and her desire to understand how to create them. She speaks four languages, and has a talent in audio retention, which will allow her to add to that number. In her spare time she enjoys playing racquetball.

In the future, Ifrah plans to combine her knowledge of the computer and electrical engineering fields with neurology. She wants to develop aids to help the disabled, or to further the medical fields understanding of the nervous system. 

Ivanna G. | Charlotte, North Carolina

2011 National Award Winner
Phillip O Berry Academy of Technology

Ivanna's dream since elementary school has been to become a computer engineer. She has held a summer internship at her school fixing over 200 computers and configuring the school's computer network. She is most proud of her work in visual basic. Ivanna is an IT delegate and a student ambassador who helps teachers and students with technical questions. Ivanna plans to attend UNC-Charlotte and major in computer science. She hopes to further her knowledge in creating applications for Windows phones and games for the Xbox.

Jacqueline S. | Longwood, Florida

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Lake Brantley High School

Jacqueline started using computers in elementary school where she joined the science club and built balsa wood bridges and constructed elaborate egg drop contraptions. Through middle school she honed her skills on computers with programs such as Microsoft Office, GIMP, and Adobe InDesign. As a senior in high school, Jacqueline is an active member of the Girls’ Computer Science Outreach Club and the AP Computer Science class. Just recently, she has picked up the Java language and loves to code with it. Her biggest accomplishment so far has been using her skills to create her school’s t-shirt design. Jacqueline is interested in pursuing either electrical or neural engineering.

Jaden B. | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

2012 National Award Winner
Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School - University Scholars Program

Jaden was considering a career in music until her true passion for robotics and engineering came to light after joining Girls of Steel, a newly formed all-girls robotics team at Carnegie Mellon University. Her experience with her FIRST Robotics team helped her to land a summer research assistantship with Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute where she worked on redesigning an Autonomous Recharging Arm. She is especially proud that she reduced the number of parts from over two-dozen to only four while also expanding the arm’s capabilities. Jaden has been the team leader for her FIRST Robotics team for the past two years, and seeing how many lessons her own team learned their first year, Jaden created a website called Rookie FIRSTs which offers advice for rookie FIRST Robotics Competition teams. She has served as student body Vice-President, created an online forum for her school, and is the Editor-in-Chief of her school’s online newspaper.  Jaden hopes to combine her interest in space and robotics in her future by one day working for NASA and designing robots to help further explore the space frontier.

Jalysa G. | Fairburn, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Westlake High School

Ms. Jalysa Garner is a junior at Westlake High School. Outside of school, she enjoys designing and sewing new clothes while using Lily Pad Arduino Technology. Her proudest achievement is winning first place in the Tennessee Celebration of Women in Technology’s Undergraduate Poster Competition. Her prize included an all expense paid trip for her and her grandmother to the 2011 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in Portland, OR. She credits Leah Buechley as having an inspiration in her life. Leah’s creation of the Lily Pad Arduino has allowed Jalysa to incorporate technology into fashion, one of her true passions. Her future plans include applying for colleges and scholarships, and majoring in computer science.

Jane C. | Brooklyn, New York

2010 National Award Winner
Stuyvesant High School

Jane enjoys computer science because of its practicality and how it applies to engineering and business. While working as a summer intern at Cooper Union College, Jane helped to design a robot that was able to follow a black line on a white surface. Jane has participated in the MIT Splash! Weekend, the Columbia University Science Honors Program, and her school’s robotics team programming division, where she learned C and C++.

Jane is the founder and leader of Now and Then, a club whose goal is to create and monitor a national high school social studies internet resource.

Jane K. | Las Cruces, New Mexico

2012 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Winner
Las Cruces High School

Since middle school, Jane has participated in programs such as PREP (Pre-Freshmen Engineering Program), GEMS (Gains in the Education of Mathematics and Science), and MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement), where various programming tools were featured. She also participated in the Robotics team through MESA and helped build and program a LEGO robot to navigate around a track using its several sensors. She also enrolled in a computer programming class at her high school where she programmed objects and learned difference programming languages. Throughout her high school career, Jane has been a participant in many clubs that taught her to become a leader and role model to the younger generations.

Janette M. | El Paso, Texas

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 and 2011 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Winner
Harmony Science Academy

Janette wishes to pursue a career in engineering. During the summer of 2009, she traveled to Denmark to compete in the International FLL Robotics Championship. She has volunteered as a mentor for the school’s younger robotics teams, and as a referee in the local First Lego League Robotics Competition Qualifiers. Recently, she was selected as a leader in FIRST TECH CHALLENGE Robotics Team by her group.

Janette's interest in technology was sparked when she was 5 years old, by video games. She has always wanted to be part of a video game franchise, or of the next big gadget to hit the market. Thanks to the great people in her life, like her parents and her tech teacher Mr. Turel, Janette has been encouraged to keep roaming on paths such as engineering and computer science. She has participated in her school's robotics teams and had the pleasure of representing our country at the First Lego League European Open, held in  the country of Denmark. Janette has taken most of the "Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math" or STEM courses available at her high school. She is currently the only girl in the school's AP Computer Science course, and hopes to be a member of the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Computer Science team this year. Janette is also currently in NASA's Texas High School Aerospace Scholars Program.

Jannine V. | Frederick, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Frederick High School

Jannine's love of mathematics was sparked by her eighth grade teacher and fostered by many other teachers along the way. Eventually this interest in math and also science led her to engineering, something she says goes hand-in-hand with computer science. Jannine is aiming at aerospace engineering and hopes to someday work for a facility that focuses on space and aviation. Specifically, she wants to be involved with future space explorations, Orion projects and prospective Mars missions. She has worked on numerous projects and activities that involve computers, including robotics programming, working with the MESA electric car competition and learning Java programming through her AP Computer Science source.

As one of only a handful of girls in that AP Computer Science course, Jannine has begun to see herself as a leader and a future role model, hoping to influence other females to pursue higher end courses in computing and related fields.

Jasmin J. | Baltimore, Maryland

2010 National Award Winner
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School

Jasmin’s main programming interest is robotics. She is an active member of her school’s robotics team, a team that placed 14th at the Vex World Championships in Dallas, Texas. The robotics team involvement has exposed Jasmin to easyC, C, C++, and basic stamp. She put these skills to use teaching easyC in a four-week robotics programming class at Morgan State University.

As an intern with Northrop Grumman, she found great challenges in manufacturing and programming a robot that could communicate with other states in the U.S. and in developing strategies and other components related to running a successful business.

Jasmine F. | Fort Wayne, Indiana

2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
Northrop High School

Jasmine will always be grateful to her teacher Mr. Gibson for inspiring her interest in computer programming.  Ever since middle school, computers have been a part of her life.  She has taken at least two computer classes a year; from her freshman year to her senior year, she has taken Digital Communication Tools, Computer Applications, Personal Finance, and Computer Programming (level 1, level 2 AP, and level AP Dual-Credit). She has been creating programs for three years and has learned that it takes intelligence, dedication, and patience to write an A+program.

Jasmine is planning to attend Purdue University to become a computer programmer and psychiatrist.

Jasmine E. | Medford, Massachusettes

2011 Massachusettes Affiliate Award Winner
Medford High School

Jasmine’s supervisor Frank Molis has been her greatest influence in computer science.  He has always encouraged her to further her knowledge through teaching others. Her greatest technical accomplishment occurred when the middle school children at her site won 1st place in the SPHERES race on the International Space Station.

In the future Jasmine sees herself in college helping girls reach their potential, pursuing fields that lack the unique perspective of young women in America.

Jazmin G. | Winchester, Massachusettes

2011 Massachusettes Affiliate Award Winner
Winchester High School

Jazmin’s primary influences in computer science are her two older brothers and her computer science teacher Mr. Petty.  Her brothers have always managed to find an interesting computational book or problem to send to her, and her teacher Mr. Petty has always pushed her to excel in the field. Mr. Petty was the one that pushed her into many computer related opportunities including applying for the Aspiration Award.

Jazmin sees herself studying in an exciting and interesting environment at a technology based university.  An interesting fact about her is that she is a huge gamer geek.  A video game was the first thing that taught her how to read.

Jenna Z. | Staten Island, New York

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Staten Island Technical High School

Since a young age, Jenna has been fascinated by space science and closely follows NASA missions and technology. She enjoys building 3-D objects in her CAD classes and does the layout for her school yearbook. She has taken college courses in computer astronomy. In addition to serving in multiple leadership positions at school, Jenna volunteers for the Staten Island Alzheimer’s Foundation and is the Vice President of the Youth Board.

Jenna would like to attend college to study science, and maybe work for NASA one day.

Jennifer A. | Boulder, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Fairview High School

Jennifer is the epitome of a well-rounded student. She was the primary CAD designer for her high school FIRST robotics competition, and that team placed in the top 35 teams. She won a first place in a national competition, using SketchUp to design a room for disabled individuals. In addition, she is the Vice President of the Art Club, a member of the Spanish club, a Color Guard alumni, and a candidate for an International Baccalaureate diploma. Jennifer also fences competitively and helped organize a fundraiser for the Autism Society of Boulder County. Finally, Jennifer is the Youth Chair for the East Boulder Relay for Life.

Not surprisingly, Jennifer is considering several possible college majors including structural engineering, teaching, and writing.

Jennifer G. | Hackensack, New Jersey

2009 National Award Winner
Academy for Telecommunications & Computer Science

Jennifer participates in a school program in which she has had the opportunity to complete independent research. As part of this program, Jennifer and her friends wrote a game in Java that incorporated a random number generator. She has built a computer from scratch and participated in the Oracle Database Design Competition. Additionally, she placed 2nd regionally in the field of Computer Applications in the Future Business Leaders of America Competition.

Jennifer plans to double major in Computer Animation/Digital Art and Japanese. She wants to combine her computer and language skills to eventually work abroad.

Jennifer D. | Charlotte, North Carolina

2008 National Award Winner
METS at Olympic Community of Schools

Ever since middle school, Jennifer has been interested in HTML and creating web pages. In high school, she continued to learn about computer programming in various engineering and computing classes and enrolled in a web design class at a community college. Jennifer also participated in a girls’ computer camp at Virginia Tech. She took the initiative to offer her web design knowledge and abilities to create the website for her FIRST Robotics team.

Jennifer plans to attend Taylor University to major in Computer Science New Media. 

Jennifer L. | East Brunswick, New Jersey

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Runner-Up
East Brunswick High School

Jennifer was drawn to the world of video making, editing, and computer graphics when she was given a camera and computer in 8th grade. “There's something naturally thrilling about being able to create something from images and texts, and the sense of accomplishment I feel after finishing a video. It drives me to keep on climbing in this field.” One of her greatest accomplishments is that she created promotional videos along with friends for a brand name fashion designer. Jennifer is proud that her work is appreciated and requested by a top designer. It's an accomplishment that compels her to keep going towards her goals in video editing and design.

Jennifer would like to attend New York University’s visual arts program to study film editing and computer graphics.

Jennifer H. | San Jose, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Prospect High School

One of Jennifer’s most accomplished projects was working with NASA to help develop a lunar micro-rover at the Ames Research Center through a robotics internship.  Her group’s main focus was being responsible for finding out the minimum image quality necessary for operating the LMR. Using a network emulator, her group set up a system for the packet loss and delay that was expected for the LMR on the moon. Jennifer is a peer tutor for the Digital Design for the web class at her school, helping students use HTML, CSS, create website and helping them use Adobe and Photoshop. She is the president of her schools FIRST Robotics Team, she is the website designer, and also programs the robots with the help of LabVIEW. In October 2011 she led her team to a second place finish and in the summer of 2011, their team was invited to help out at the BioMassive Expo in San Francisco where their team received a lot of publicity and interest from people who attended. In August 2011 she published an e-book on Amazon titled, The Sky is Not the Limit, which was a compilation of her experiences with the Robotics Club and her robotics internship at NASA.

Jenny Z. | Rancho Palos Verdes, California

2010 National Award Winner
California Academy of Mathematics & Science

Jenny developed many skills and delved deeper into the world of technology when she interned with the Center of Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS). She created a cell phone application and online tool that allows users to track their environmental impact and exposure through GPS data. When working on this project, Jenny learned the Python programming language and is now learning additional languages. She is also very involved in the Remotely Operated Vehicle Team that she and several other students started and built into an award-winning team.

Jenny loves technology, but she is also involved in dance, cross country, piano, speech, and community service.

Jenny S. | Cupertino, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Monta Vista High School

Engineering and technology has always surrounded Jenny, but she struck out on her own learning experience starting with a class at De Anza College, a nearby community college, on programming in C. She has continued this journey by taking intermediate C programming and Physics at her high school. She is part of two computing and technology related programs, one called SEMI High Tech U and the other called Technovation Challenge. SEMI High Tech U taught her about semiconductors and their place in business, and Technovation Challenge was located at Google and Microsoft, and she was put in a group to design an Android application and pitch their idea to a group at Microsoft. She is most proud of the Technovation Challenge because she not only learned about technology, but also was able to learn how to work in a group on a project. She is a section leader I the group, Crystal Children’s Choir where she has many responsibilities. Jenny plans on majoring in Electrical Engineering and to take extra programming classes.

Jenny L. | Seattle, Washington

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Garfield High School

Jenny began her young computing career as a sophomore in high school when she took AP Computer Science. Although she didn’t have any previous computer science experience, she had a genuine interest to learn programming. Since then, Jenny was a high school intern at Microsoft research this past summer and worked with the natural language processing group to start the groundwork for a system to map between English queries and corresponding Windows PowerShell script. She is most proud of the work she did in this internship with creating a code that could distinguish between English text and PowerShell script. Jenny is most interested in working in a Computer Science related field in college and is inspired by what employees at Google and Disney “Imagineers” do. 

Jessica K. | Sweet Home, Oregon

2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
Sweet Home High School

Jessica has her technology teacher Michael Morrell to thank for encouraging her in computer technology. She really likes working in 3D graphics and is excited to see her creations come to life on the screen. She is proud of her contribution to the school game development team for OGPC 3.0 and also her regular contribution to the care and maintenance of computers in her community.

Jessica is currently working to redesign the school’s website. She plans to study computer graphics and game design and development and then work in the game development industry.

Jessica C. | Diamond Bar , California

2009 National Award Winner
Diamond Bar High School

Jessica participates in several computer and information technology clubs. She holds an officer position with the Brahma Tech Club as well as the Computer Science Team. This team competes annually in the USA Computing Olympiad, a nationwide programming competition. Jessica was a member of the winning team at the 2008 Raytheon Engineering Competition, where she helped build a hovercraft powered by a leaf blower.

Jessica aspires to attend Harvey Mudd or Cal Tech to continue her study of Computer Programming.

Jessica S. | Oregon City, Oregon

2009 National Award Winner
Oregon City High School

Jessica was the Chief Technology Editor for her school’s newspaper. Her position required proficiency in Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. Jessica developed a website to display the newspaper online and worked on a program to manage story deadlines. Jessica was the team captain and lead programmer of Oregon City’s FIRST robotics Team. She was the first female member and developed its award- winning website.

Jessica runs her own web development and graphic design business, Hypercube Studios. She developed five sites and mentors other webmasters. She plans to major in Computer Science, Mathematics or Engineering at Harvey Mudd College.

Jessica V. | Dahlonega, Georgia

2009 National Award Winner
Lumpkin County High School

Jessica took several computer science courses at her high school, including Computer Applications, MultiMedia and Communication Technology, Basic Web Page Design and Introduction to Animation Technology. Jessica enjoyed participating in competitions with different organizations, such as a robotics team, SkillsUSA and Future Business Leaders of America. As a sophomore, she placed third in her state at SkillsUSA for the PowerPoint competition. As a junior, she placed third for Web Page.

Jessica is attending North Georgia College and State University and is studying Biology and Computer Science.

Jessica L. | Brooklyn, New York

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Fontbonne Hall Academy

Jessica is most interested in web design. She has some experience in designing since she took part in a “Thinkquest” Program during her sophomore year in high school. She currently participates in a computer application program in which she hopes to learn more about computing.

Jessica created an educational website related to the H1N1 virus during her sophomore year. This website informed its audience on the signs, symptoms and methods which they can use to prevent the spreading of this virus.

Jessica G. | Dedham, Massachusettes

2011 Massachusettes Affiliate Award Winner
Dedham High School

Jessica has her older sister to thank for her interest in pursuing Computer Science.  Her sister was the only girl in CS and inspired Jessica to do what she loves.  Jessica's greatest technical achievement has been teaching the elderly about computers.  She enjoys sharing her passion with others. 

Jessica sees herself in the future pursuing computer science by programming.  An interesting fact about Jessica is that she is the only girl at her school that is in computer science.

Jessica G. | Gahanna, Ohio

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Columbus School for Girls

From being a member of a FIRST LEGO team in middle school to being a captain of her high school’s FIRST Robotics team, Jessica has always love filling her time with technology. Jessica has helped her robotics team by being a lead programmer, teaching teammates how to use LabVIEW, keeping the team organized, and teaching the team how to use CAD. She also puts her skills to work as she is a volunteer at a local science center, COSI Columbus, where they educate the community about technology and help them to learn with hands on experience. Jessica has loved being able to both service her community and also work with technology. As she explores colleges and possible career paths it is her dream to be able to combine her knowledge of technology with her love of service.

Jessica C. | Fort Collins, Colorado

2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Poudre High School

Ms. Constant’s interest in computing was first piqued through her fondness for Mathematics and her desire to do more complex things with math. Having two parents in the computer programming field encouraging her, she took to a computer programming class in seventh grade and was a natural in her ability to quickly learn coding and continues to soak up as much knowledge about programming as time allows. Jessica has successfully built a computer model to track the dispersion of particles, mainly pollution, in the atmosphere, with which she has competed in regional state and international science fairs. She plans on pursuing the study of applications of computer modeling after high school. Ms. Constant is very active in her school, performing in the choir, and is an active member with the National Honor Society. In addition, she has lettered in both academics and music.

Jiashan L. | Westford, Massachusetts

2009 National Award Winner
Westford Academy

Jiashan has a strong interest computer programming and creating websites. She likes programming’s strong relation to math. Jiashan was an active member of her high school’s Math Team and placed eighth in the Fitchburg State Math Competition. She is very interested in the area of data encryption and restoration and the computer’s implication in these topics. Jiashan took the initiative to further her knowledge of science by enrolling in the college-level course Introduction to Human Diseases.

Jiashan is attending MIT and is studying Engineering.

Jinisha P. | Springfield, New Jersey

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Jonathan Dayton High School

Jinisha took an introduction to java course her junior year not knowing what she was getting into, but she started to fall in love with it. “There is something about that feeling you get when you finish a program successfully!“ She has enjoyed every project she has worked on. She absolutely loves cooking and baking. Jinisha hopes to be working in a summer internship at Microsoft and hopes to hear good news soon!

Jinisha plans to go to college, although she has yet to decide where she will end up. She plans to major in computer science and would like to pursue an associates and bachelors degree together. 

Jinzhao W. | Brighton, Massachusetts

2010 National Award Winner
Boston Latin School

When Jinzhao was ten her father asked her to write Java codes for factorials. Through hard work and dedication she was able to write these codes and pave a path for her future in computing. Jinzhao’s interest in interface design and robotics was sparked by creating a virtual interface to help visitors learn about a MARCbot while volunteering at the Museum of Science in Boston.

At school, she is the student representative for the Technology Planning Committee and a technology assistant, helping teachers and staff with computer and other technology problems. In her senior year, Jinzhao has especially loved taking AP Computer Science.

Jocelyn V. | Lake Havasu City, Arizona

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Lake Havasu High School

Jocelyn is President of the Health Careers Club at her high school, Vice-President of the Renaissance program, and Secretary of Phi Theta Kappa: Alpha Chi Chi Honor Society at Mohave Community College. She also has been a volunteer for Hospice of Havasu for over a year.  Starting the summer of her seventh grade year, Jocelyn’s interested in computing has sparked.  She has taken many classes at the community college in computer courses and earned her Certificate of Proficiency in Professional Applications in May 2011.  She designs webpages as a hobby, helps those around her to be more computer literate, and creates slideshows and DVDs for anyone who might need her help.  She hopes in the future to pursue a major in Computer Information Systems.  Jocelyn hopes to one day make as big of an impact on the technology field as her role model, Bill Gates.

Jordan M. | Durham, North Carolina

2011 North Carolina Affiliate Award Winner
Hillside New Tech High School

Being the youngest in her class has not held Jordan back. She credits her father with piquing her interests in technology, especially designing websites. After high school, Jordan will be studying Computer Science or Engineering, and would like to continue her education at Gnomon School of Visual Effects.

Jordan N. | Glen Allen, Virginia

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Deep Run High School

One of Jordan’s largest projects was working with a small group of peers to create a video game using GameMaker for the Henrico County Public Library to use during their summer celebration of Henrico Country’s 400-year anniversary.  She was responsible for focusing mainly on the narration and storyboard design and development of the game. She also developed all of the graphics and sprites for the game where she made over 200 unique and individual sprites using programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator.  She is a member of her school’s FIRST robotics team, 1086 Blue Cheese, where she works in the Chairman’s department as one of the chief media and web developers, she works at the Deep Run Wildcat Writing Center as one of the writing consultants, a member of Deep Run’s Page Turners book club, and is a member of the Center for Information Technology.  Her dream would be to create something new in interactive media technology to integrate both the creative narrative and technical code to change the way in which society views video games.

Josie L. | Longmont, Colorado

2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Skyline High School

Josie is a sophomore at Skyline High School and is thriving in the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) program at her school and enjoys engineering different devices within these classes. Josie is the leader of her school’s special App Development team, and is making apps for companies around the Longmont area. Last year Josie participated in the Genetic Algorithms club with fellow NCWIT winner, Lauren A. Jury, which led to recognition from the City of Longmont as well as the school board. Miss Lamp is equally involved in the arts as she has been pirouetting since age two. She continues to express herself through dance by performing at a pre-professional studio, and is a member of the school dance team. She is a straight-A student and aspires to attend Stanford University to pursue a career in Bioinformatics and Computational Science, and Fashion Design or Web Design.

Jovanna M. | Longwood, Florida

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Lake Brantley High School

Jovanna began working with computers in the 5th grade where she was given the job of creating a PowerPoint daily to show what the lunch menu would be in her school’s morning show. Jovanna is an active member in the AP community and is currently enrolled in four classes. She is also a member of BETA and NHS where she helps with school festivals and has participated in relay for life. Jovanna plans to major in computer science and immediately get her masters, eventually coming back for a PHD. She ultimately wants to pursue a job as a computer software engineer where she wants to improve programs for users and also create new software, hardware, and systems.

Julia H. | Dallas, Texas

2011 National Award Winner
Science and Engineering Magnet High School

Julia developed an interest in computer science through her love for mathematics, and robotics is the perfect blend of her knowledge and skills. Julia is also interested in biochemistry and engineering, and again finds that robotics helps combine all of her passions.

She has participated in First Bytes at the University of Texas at Austin, and RoboCamp at the University of North Texas. Additionally, she participates in several computer science competitions throughout the year including UIL (University Interscholastic League) meets and robotics competitions such as RoPro and First Robotics.

Julia S. | Brooklyn, New York

2009 National Award Winner
Stuyvesant High School

Julia was introduced to the world of computing through her high school’s programming class and has since taken every computer science course offered. She participated in programming competitions, such as ACSL, as a part of her membership in the Computer Science team. Julia’s greatest achievement in computing occurred while working on a research project she submitted to the Intel Talent Search. She focused on the development and programming of an interactive tool for pattern-making, specifically knitting patterns.

Julia is attending MIT and is majoring in Computer Science. She is interested in the use of algorithms in programming and computer-human interaction.

Julia V. | Las Cruces, New Mexico

2012 and 2011 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Winner
Las Cruces High School

Julia taught herself basic HTML and CSS programming from various Internet tutorials, and then learned more about CSS programming from a summer program at her local university, "Young Women in Computing." This program introduced her to a free three dimensional program called Alice, which taught her to program basic video games. The following year she was accepted in the same program as an assistant, allowing her to act as a buffer between students and teachers who taught the various programming classes. It is of particular interest to Julia to find a practical way to convert medical paper files to electronic ones. For her Junior and Senior years in high school, Julia was elected to be the secretary for MESA, a program that focuses on math, engineering, and science achievement. Last year, she joined a group called the The Evolvement, a youth organization dedicated to fighting the tobacco industry by promoting a world that rejects tobacco of its own free will. Her dream job is to work for Nintendo and create new products for the Zelda franchise.

Julie H. | Atlanta, Georgia

2012 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Woodward Academy

Ms. Julie Hubschman is a senior at Woodward Academy. Whenever she gets a free moment from school, Julie loves to bake, everything from basic cupcakes to red velvet cake from scratch. The proudest award that she feels she’s received was when she was inducted in to MENSA. Julie credits her 8th grade science teacher, Mr. Dietz, for being an inspiration to her. He always taught her to push the limits and be a proud nerd.

Julie’s next step to becoming an outstanding woman in computing is attending college. While she doesn’t know where she will be attending, she plans to study cognitive science, a mixture of psychology and computer science.

Julissa H. | Rico Rancho, New Mexico

2012 National Award Runner-Up
V. Sue Cleveland High School

With the help of the National Society of Black Engineers Julissa was exposed to the world of computer science and robotics. After participating in her schools chapter of NSBE Julissa now wants to become an environmental engineer. Ultimately she hopes to use technology to find solutions on how to protect people from natural disasters. In her time spent as president of her schools NSBE chapter, Julissa has helped many other students discover the world of robotics and how important computer technology is.  Julissa realizes the importance of computer science as well as community service and truly hopes to make an impact on people’s lives.

Kacyn F. | Cupertino, California

2009 National Award Winner
Menlo School

Kacyn has taken all computer science courses offered at her school, as well as summer classes in web design and programming. She applies her computer science background to fun applications to create songs in Garageband and movies in Adobe Flash. Kacyn is interested in programming, utilizing data structures efficiently and creating elegant code with recursion. She founded the Games and Puzzles club and enjoys teaching others about programming.

Kacyn hopes to earn an engineering degree in Computer Science at Princeton or Stanford. After receiving her doctorate, she wants to start her own business and compete with high tech companies.

Kaitie G. | Sanford, North Carolina

2011 North Carolina Affiliate Award Winner
Southern Lee High School

Using computer programs such as Autodesk Revit really spurred Kaitie's interest in designing and drawing structures, from designing homes to building trebuchets. She is inspired by the combination of creativity and technical challenges. Kaitie will be attending North Carolina State University, where she will major in Architecture.

Kaitlin M. | Bergenfield, New Jersey

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Bergen County Academies

Kaitlin has been involved with computing and technology since her freshmen year. She is a member of the Academy for Telecommunications and Computer Science at the Bergen County Academics and has taken many classes in computing and technology. Kaitlin interns at Morgan Stanley through a program offered by her school, and through this she updates their documentation system and maintains their database. She has also been very involved in competitions, where she’s went to Nationals for Networking Concepts and placed in the top three with her Management Information Systems team at regionals. Kaitlin hopes to attend Stevens Institute of Technology and pursue a Cyber security major and move on to work for the National Security Agency. 

Kaitlyn P. | Dunellen, New Jersey

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Winner
Mount Saint Mary Academy

Kaitlyn first became interested in computers in the third grade, and ever since then she has been excited to learn more about computers, and loves using technology to complete school assignments and projects. She participates in the FIRST Tech Challenge robotics program, and the communications club at her school. She helps to produce stories about her school that the club submits to a regional television station, MSG Varsity, which showcases events happening at high schools in the tri-state area.

During her time in high school she has had the opportunity to produce and host a televised segment on the school morning announcements called "Tech Tips", in which she provides helpful hints and tips to help students and teachers use technology more efficiently.

Kaitlyn M. | Houston, Texas

2011 Houston Affiliate Award Winner
Lee High School

Kaitlyn is a dedicated student, currently taking seven AP courses and has had perfect attendance since kindergarten. Although she thinks that school and education are very important, she also thinks that giving back to the community is equally important. Kaitlyn volunteers for several organizations, but her favorites are giving people a hand-up at the LaPorte Neighborhood Center, and also collecting gifts and holding parties for the children at the Boys and Girls Harbor.

Kaitlyn's biggest influence is her mother, who is an engineer and has showed her that women can be very successful and make an impact in fields that have traditionally been a male occupation. 

Kaitlyn F. | Dearborn, Michigan

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Dearborn Center for Math, Science, and Technology

Kaitlyn has spent her time throughout high school developing her computer science skills both in and out of the classroom. After receiving a 5 on the AP computer science exam she started to believe she wanted to make computer science her future. As a senior, Kaitlyn studied on her own time and learned even more about programming. She was able to create a program that allow parents to regulate their children’s computer time by determining when the program will shut down all the applications the child has open. Finally completing this program and being able to enter into the in the Science and Engineering Fair of Metro Detroit (SEFMD), the Google Science Fair, and her school’s science fair is Kaitlyn’s greatest achievement. She hopes to double major in computer science and physics to one day work for Google, NASA, or a research laboratory and be at the forefront of scientific discovery.

Kaitlyn P. | Dunellen, New Jersey

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Mount Saint Mary Academy

Kaitlyn’s first experience with computers was when she was in third grade and she created her first powerpoint presentation. She was fascinated with the program and thought it was fun to be able to make fifty different pictures fly in and out of a slide. Since then she has become more involved in technology related clubs at school. Her freshmen year she was a part of the web design team, where she designed a website on the rain forest to submit for a competition. Since then, she has been an active member of the Communications Club and of the TV Studio crew at her school. Her biggest accomplishment was with her school’s First Tech Challenge robotics team first competition where they ranked high enough to be an alliance captain and also received the Motivate Award.

Kamaria D. | Charlotte, North Carolina

2011 North Carolina Affiliate Award Winner
Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology

Kamaria was inspired by her freshman networking teacher, who taught her that computing and technology will help her be successful. She will be attending the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in the fall to study Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing. Kamaria is also an active member of the marching band and the color guard.

Kanlayanin J. | Teaneck, New Jersey

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Winner
Teaneck High School

Like many students, Kanlayanin liked to play video games as a child but her real affinity for computers started in high school. She became fascinated with the programming language VB.net and JAVA. She creates computer programs and interfaces in her spare time. She was inspired by Ada Lovelace, the first female programmer in history. Kanlayanin's greatest technical accomplishment to date is coding a math computer game for the kids she tutors at church. She continues to upgrade the software to be fun and educational. 

Kanlayanin aspires to become a computational biological engineer because she can fuse her love of computers and science. She believes this area of study can help her create programs that would improve MRI machines and instruments for gait analysis.

Karen S. | Roswell, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Centennial High School

For Karen, technology has always been an important part of her life. From a young age, she has been taking things a part and putting them back together and was always fascinated figuring out how something worked and how it could be used to affect everyday life. Karen remembers when she was 10 and she created a video/slideshow for her mother using old pictures that she scanned into a computer. The joy it brought to her mother’s face inspired Karen towards becoming a computer programmer and to help kids who come from a background which reflects her own. 

Karla G. | Framingham, Massachusettes

2011 Massachusettes Affiliate Award Winner
Framingham High School

Karla has her programming teachers to thank for encouraging her in computer science. They have always encouraged her to pursue her interests in CS. Her greatest technical achievement occurred at the end of last year where she was awarded the RIT Computing Medal award at her high school. 

Karla sees herself being involved with the sciences in the future. An interesting fact about Karla is that the longest program she has ever written to date has been a game of Tetris.

Karla L. | Springdale, Arkansas

2012 Arkansas & NE Oklahoma Affiliate Award Winner
Springdale High School

Karla is interested in computer graphics, web development, audio production, and photography. Karla is involved in Key Club, Senior Class Council, IT Leadership, DECA, and her church's youth group. She plans on attending college after serving a 4-year tour with the United States Marine Corps. Karla's computing interest was influenced by her father, friend Jarred Blackstone, and teacher Mrs. Johnson.

Karlee S. | Tobias, Nebraska

2012 Nebraska & SW Iowa Affiliate Award Winner
Meridian High School

Karlee has a passion for working with technology-related applications. As a senior, she helped design the school’s Web page. She won first place in Database Design and Applications at the State Leadership Conference and continued to the national level, where she ranked third. In her role as assistant to her school’s computer technician, Karlee is always busy fixing computers. Karlee would like to be a teacher and impart her excitement of computers and technology to others. She hopes this will start a train of knowledge from her students to others and so on to the whole world.

Karthy C. | Portland, Oregon

2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
Westview High School

Karthy's robotics coach, Venkatesh Chaya, has been extremely influential in recruiting her onto his robotics team and encouraging her to explore new aspects of computer science and engineering.

Karthy's greatest technical accomplishment is not one that she can claim to be her very own, but it is the robot that she and her team built for this year's FTC tournament. It took hours and hours of work to construct, but they are very proud of it and excited for it to compete in an upcoming tournament.

Kate H. | Salem, Oregon

2012 National Award Runner-Up
West Salem High School

Getting started by taking a Technology in the Workplace class, Kate has now fallen in love with computer science and programming. Kate plans to expand her knowledge even more as she was recently accepted into the college of engineering at Oregon State for computer science. As a member of her schools robotics team, Kate is always willing to help out whenever needed with brainstorming, building or coding. In addition to having a computer science focused course schedule, Kate is also captain of her schools color guard and helps to coach a middle school’s winter guard. After college Kate would love to be involved with bringing technology into classrooms to aid learning. She believes that this is a very applicable environment for new advances because it could enrich, engage, and inspire the students like never before.

Katelyn S. | Glen Ullin, North Dakota

2010 National Award Winner
Glen Ullin High School

Katelyn’s love of design and programming has led her to do many things, from designing and programming robots in an agricultural class to making movies in Dreamweaver. Katelyn’s list of activities is long and varied: she has been a member of the Math Counts team and the Acalympic team, vice-president of FFA Agricultural Education, three-year president of FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America), 4-H Morton County Teen Exhibitor of the Year, yearbook editor, and a volleyball and basketball player— in addition to drama, speech, band, choir, and other activities.

She is very proud of the website that she created for a local business and of the other technology and programming guidance she provides in her community. One of Katelyn’s life passions is that no person should have to be deprived of the gift of technological advancement.

Katelyn L. | Franklin, Massachusettes

2011 Massachusettes Affiliate Award Winner
Tri County Regional Vocational Tech

Katelyn has her parents and shop teachers to thank for encouraging her interest in computer science. They all stood by her and supported her when she doubted her abilities with computers. They gave her the push that she needed to get to where she is now. Her greatest technical achievement was when she placed 8th (out of 52 teams) at the Boston Regional competition for US FIRST as a rookie team and getting the chance to be alliance captain.

In the future Katelyn sees herself working in a management position at a corporation or as a journalist writing about the world’s news. 

Katharyn G. | Phoenix, Arizona

2010 National Award Winner
Carl Hayden High School

Katharyn has been programming since middle school, where she first learned LOGO. Since then she has taken more computer classes and learned other languages such as ALICE, Visual Basic, and Java. She has won her school’s programming competition for two years, one year making a game by herself and the other year collaborating with someone else.

At the end of Arizona State University’s CampGame in 2008, Katharyn was named Best Programmer and her team won Best Game. Other interests include phone applications and robotics. Always a leader in her school, Katharyn is her school’s go-to-person when anyone has a question about a computer problem.

Katherine A. | Springdale, Arkansas

2011 Arkansas/Northeastern Oklahoma Affiliate Award Winner
Springdale High School

Katherine is interested in information systems, web design, and programming. She is an intern for Tyson Foods in the Information Systems department. She recently took Web Technologies and worked with Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, Flash, Dreamweaver, as well as some HTML coding and constructing a web page. She has also taken Introduction to Object Oriented Programming, and Pre-AP Java.

Katherine has been influenced most in computing by her mentor Mrs. Kathleen Johnson. She is also the Section Leader of the marching band, and a computer tech assistant. She would like to persue IT in college after she graduates high school.

Katherine A. | Dallas, Texas

2008 National Award Winner
School of Business & Management

Katherine has devoted her studies to the field of IT as a response to the growing use of technology in the world. She has been exposed to various types of formal computing with her enrollment in classes such as CISCO Networking and Business Computer Information Systems. Her current interest in Packet Tracer Software allows her to improve the way she uses different programs.

Katherine shows her leadership skills as a newly ranked Corporal Cadet with her involvement in the JROTC program. She aspires to enlist with the United States Air Force and major in Computer Science after high school.

Katherine L. | Rockport, Massachusettes

2011 Massachusettes Affiliate Award Winner
Rockport High School

Kate’s advisor Dylan Phillips has been her greatest influence in CS. He has helped her throughout her time in the IT department encouraging her to learn while making her experience fun. Her greatest technical achievement has been her ability to single handily set up sizable computer labs within a five hour workday. Kate's favorite perk about working with iMac’s is using the applications to make them “talk".

Kate sees herself at a university and then abroad studying something that will improve the world around her. 

Katherine M. | New Albany, Ohio

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 Ohio Affiliate Award Winner
New Albany High School

Katherine has been most influenced by her mentor, who not only encourages her to pursue her dreams in computing, but who also was the one initially sparked her interest in computing.  After discovering her passion, Katherine was motivated to establish a group in her community that strives to mentor young girls with an interest in computing called FIONA: Future Innovators of New Albany. She took a course in Artificial Intelligence at Stanford, worked with a team of students to go to the Science Olympiad State Competition, and became a Digital Network Assistant. Katherine enjoys researching technical topics such as hurricane prevention and medical disorders and finding possible solutions to these issues. She plans to attend the University of Pennsylvania and will be majoring in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with a minor in Computer Science. She hopes to apply her skills to one day find a solution to the issue of unsafe drinking water.

Katherine C. | Houston, Texas

2011 Houston Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Klein Oak High School

Katherine's future goals include graduating with a degree in Public Relations from the University of Oklahoma, securing a position within a corporation as an investor relations professional, and travelling for international mission trips with her church. She is influenced most by her mom and grandmother's strong perseverance and faith.

Katherine C. | Roswell, Georgia

2011 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Centennial High School

Katherine is a senior at Centennial High School. She is interested in artificial intelligence and robotics and has experience with Python, Java the Scribbler robots, Google’s App Inventor, Scratch and others. During a class project, Katherine and her partner used Scribbler robots – Sonny and Bumblebee - to create a robotic singing and dancing duet in which they performed the ChaCha while singing Heart and Soul. A fun fact about Katherine is that she has appeared 6 times on WSB’s High Q – an Atlanta based game show – with her quiz bowl team. Katherine will be attending Georgia Tech in the fall to major in Computer Science, where she hopes to do work in the fields of human-robot interaction and artificial intelligence. 

Katherine S. | Omaha, Nebraska

2012 Nebraska & SW Iowa Affiliate Award Winner
V.J. and Angela Skutt Catholic High School

Kat was introduced to computers at a very young age and she created her first HTML layout when she was just nine years old. She is interested in Photoshop and uses her knowledge to create Christmas cards and interesting photos that she sends to competitions. She studied Visual Basic in her sophomore year and will be learning Java programming. Kat is keeping her future options open, but she knows that her future will involve learning more about computer science. She hopes to help her father in his software company and follow his footsteps and become a successful business woman.

Katherine Brennan S. | Mendota Heights, Minnesota

2011 National Award Winner
Convent of the Visitation School

Katherine has been programming for two years, starting as a sophomore when she joined the Robettes — her school’s FIRST Robotics team. She’s learned Java, C++, C, as well as some LabView, HTML, and SQL and aspires to learn more HTML and create a website from scratch. She is a leader in her school, and has been the programming sub-team captain for robotics since sophomore year.  

She plans to study biological and biomedical sciences, as well as computer programming in order to further her interest in genetics and cancer research. Katherine states that her dream career would be to combine her two loves — biology and computer science — into one job.

Kathleen E. | Boston, Massachusettes

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Massachusettes Affiliate Award Winner
O'Bryant School of Math and Science

Kathleen has her own graphic design business called Stereolovegfx, which has given her the opportunity to use many programs in the Adobe Creative Suite in order to design websites for clients as well as build her own portfolio for college. The achievement that Kathleen is most proud of is her graphic design business and the unique t-shirt design that she designed herself for the business. Based on the knowledge and expertise that she has gained through starting her own business, Kathleen has been able to help those around her to achieve their computing related goals. Kathleen is certain that she will one day have a career in computing and is especially interested in having a career in visual-arts, graphic-design, or performing arts.

Kathryn B. | Bronx, New York

2011 National Award Winner
Horace Mann School

Kathryn entered RoboCup’s “Rescue Challenge,” which is a simulation of a toxic-waste-strewn area requiring a fully autonomous robot to navigate through an obstacle course. Her team won First Place in the regional competition, qualifying them for the international competition in Singapore. She’s currently working to incorporate autonomous robots into her school’s annual Dance Concert by exploring the sensors a robot could use to interact with dancers. 

She’s taken classes in C++, Java, web design, Logic Circuits, and Robotics, and is currently taking AP Computer Science. In the future she hopes to work on projects related to bioengineering, or robots similar to the Mars rovers. She encourages other girls in her classes to be more active in technology and states that she believes this is her duty as a woman in technology, “plus, being outspoken is much more fun.”

Kathryn V. | Chicago, Illinois

2008 National Award Winner
Plainfield North High School

In her free time, Kathryn Vanderwater enjoys building web pages, playing with code and teaching friends and employers to be self-sufficient when using computers. Kathryn has been chosen to create a web page for a company called Party Rover and has competed for the past two years in the Technical Ambassador’s Competition through Chic Tech. She hopes to incorporate her love of language with computer science in college by majoring in computer science with a language minor. In the future, Kathryn plans to connect people across nations together through her knowledge of computers.

Kathryn S. | San Jose, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
The Harker School

This past summer, Kathryn studied computational biology as a research intern at UC Santa Cruz. She worked with Stuart lab in the Bimolecular Engineering department and developed a computer algorithm that used a method called BioSpace to infer drug modes of action. She was able to run 600 compounds of unknown function, selected by the National Cancer Institute as promising for cancer treatment, through her algorithm and found the compounds’ most likely targets. Kathryn also competes in algorithmic programming competitions, such as the USA Computing Olympiad, (USACO), and currently is in the USACO training program and competes in the USACO Silver division. Kathryn is hoping to study either computer science or computational biology in college and go on to teach computer science to middle and high school students. 

Katia N. | Bellevue, Washington

2009 National Award Winner
Bellevue High School

Katia attends the Northwest Academy of Sciences, a small school offering continuous courses in advanced mathematics and programming. Because the classes do not have a set curriculum, students are able to delve into topics which are not usually covered. Katia attended the Microsoft DigiGirlz Program and has been able to explore various IT careers through speakers during her internship. In addition to programming, Katia also enjoys coding. She is an officer for the math club and has helped organize the Get Global Conference.

Katia plans to major in Engineering or Computer Engineering, and believes her interest in international studies will help her design systems to be used across the globe.

Katie H. | Greentown, Indiana

2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
Eastern Howard High School

Katie has created many different types of computer programs which include a kick line program in Alice, Hangman and a bowling ball application in Visual Basic, an MP3 player and an Astro Blaster game in Blitz Basic 3D, and a movie theater, a calculator, and a telephone application in Java.  She is most proud of her "shoot 'em up" game created in Blitz Basic 3D.

Katie attended the Women in Engineering Summer Camps at Purdue University and as a result would like to develop applications for phones and other technology that people use on a daily basis.

Katie M. | Bergenfield, New Jersey

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Winner
Bergen County Academies

Katie’s older brother inspired her to become interested in computer science. When she saw the types of projects he was working on with computers, she wanted to become involved as well. Her greatest technical accomplishment to date has been winning first place at FBLA in cyber security, or being accepted into the Academy for Telecommunications and Computer Science at her school.

In the future, Katie would like to attend the Stevens Institute of Technology to study Cyber Security. Katie would like to learn how to ensure that the sensitive information people are entering online every day is kept safe and private. She would like to focus her future on making sure technology can become more reliable and secure with its growing necessity.

Katie G. | Loveland, Ohio

2011 Ohio Affiliate Award Winner
Loveland High School

Katie’s interest has always been in technology, but her involvement with the INTERalliance introduced her to computer science and made her realize how exciting the field is. Katie's greatest technical accomplishment has been to create the logo for the Loveland High School Orchestra.

Katie plans on going to the University of Nevada, Reno to study Computer Science and Engineering. She hopes to study interactive media and visual graphics.

Katie V. | Lafayette, Colorado

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Peak to Peak Charter School

Katie has taken all of the computing courses offered at her school and has excelled in all of them. She even created a website with a group that could be used to buy and sell textbooks at her school. Katie is also an intern for Momentum and Northfield Trading. She is also involved in several clubs at her high school, including National Honor Society, Key Club, and DECA. Katie also volunteers with Habitat for Humanity, Reading Buddies, and a local homeless shelter as well as organizing a mission trip to Jamaica. She also enjoys geocaching, reading, listening to music, and going outdoors in her free time. Katie aspires to become a Human Factor Engineer in the future.

Katrina H. | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

2012 National Award Winner, 2012 Oklahoma & Texas Panhandle Affiliate Award Winner
Glory to God Prepatory High School

Having spent five years involved with robotics teams, Katrina’s proudest accomplishment was having the privilege to be selected as Captain of the FIRST Robotics team. At a robotics competition in Stillwater, Oklahoma her team recently took first place in every category. Through robotics Katrina has had other opportunities including being interviewed on TV, performing a demonstration of the team’s robot at the Oklahoma State Fair and the chance to find her passion within robotics. For the past two years, she has also enjoyed attending the Summer Engineering Academy at the University of Oklahoma where participants explore several engineering career choices. Katrina has kept a 4.0 while also participating in LEGO Robotic Workshops for young students, her BEST Robotics Team, Science on Saturdays, tutoring in math, science and Spanish, and teaching Sunday school. Katrina hopes to go into a career in Aeronautical Engineering, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Computer Graphics, or Computer Engineering.

Kelly C. | Houston, Texas

2011 Houston Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Deer Park High School

Kelly's main interest in the IT field is mechanical engineering. She plans to attend college in the fall, possibly at Georgia Tech or Purdue, and hopes to one day earn a Masters and PhD. She would like to eventually work at NASA with the ISS or astronaut program, but is also interested in doing research in other countries.

Kelly's interest in computers and technology stemmed from her curiosity about how programs run and how glitches occue in video games. She joined AP Computer Science during her sophomore year, and quickly began to love it.

Kelly D. | St. Francis, Wisconsin

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Saint Francis High School

Although Kelly more recently became acquainted with computer science and programming, she has long been empowered by the fact that she has been the only girl in many of her IT classes. The days may have seemed long but the fact that she was aspiring to be something different from many other girls in her class has spurred Kelly to take on more IT challenges. After taking a networking class, she received a position as an IT intern in her school district. In her role as intern, she has become the communicator between the teachers and the teachers. Kelly is also an accomplished dancer and is captain of her school’s dance team and she strives to be a great leader. With her new-found love for programming, Kelly aspires to become a computer programmer in college.

Kelsea A. | Pagosa Springs, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Pagosa Springs

Kelsea was the first female student at Pagosa Springs High School to take a computer programming class and the first female student to complete all of the computer related classes that her high school had to offer. She hopes that this accomplishment will encourage other intelligent and creative female students to follow in her footsteps and learn about computing. She credits her interest in technology to her energetic and innovative computer science teacher, Mr. Morehouse, who offered encouragement and advice and enabled her to discover her passion and talent for computing and programming. Her greatest computing accomplishment to date was the creation of a video game that taught her the basics of graphics and animation as well as the extremely important skill of working on a team. She is developing an interest robotics, because of the positive changes that field can make in people's lives.

Through robotics, she envisions designing the next generation of space technologies, bio-mechanics or even fuel-efficient cars. She loves the mechanics and programming techniques that goes on behind the scenes of robotics and she feels that robotics offers her the most options to help people and our future society. After she graduates, she intends to go to college and major in computer science and engineering.

Kelsey D. | Houston, Texas

2011 Houston Affiliate Award Runner-Up
St. John's School

Kelsey's brother initially sparked her interest in computer programming and encouraged her to enroll in her school's computer science courses. The continued support from her coaches, teachers, and friends made her jump into computer science an enjoyable experience. Kelsey intends on majoring in Electrical Engineering and hopes to earn a master's degree in the future.

Kelsey K. | Waxhaw, North Carolina

2011 North Carolina Affiliate Award Winner
Cuthbertson High School

Kelsey was first inspired during the EDGE Camp, where she built toys for disabled children. Next year, Kelsey will be attending college. She plans to major in Engineering, possibly with a biomedical or environmental focus. During study breaks, you can find her knitting and crocheting.

Kendall R. | Santa Cruz, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
York School

From the age of 7, Kendall has had a goal of building a house before graduating high school. She has always been interested in engineering and her passion of architecture led her to take computer science classes. In these classes, she has worked with HTML, CSS, and Javascript. She took these skills and redesigned a website for a construction company. Her intent was an end product that was interesting and user-friendly. Last summer Kendall launched a non-profit project called NerdGirlHomes where she maintains and updates her Wordpress website regularly. She is one of the few girls in Robotics and JETS Clubs at school and one of her goals is to increase diversity and participation in both of these. For now, Kendall wants to pursue a degree in Computer Science and engineering but still isn’t sure exactly what she wants to do.

Kerstin N. | Loveland, Ohio

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Loveland High School

Kerstin has truly found her passion in computer science and information technology throughout her high school career. In addition to studying computer science in multiple school courses, she was also chosen for the Abilities First Fulfillment project at Miami University, was selected for the Summer College Engineering Exposure Program at the University of Michigan, and also given the chance to attend the INTERalliance summer camp. Kerstin has also has numerous internships including one with the company Zakta, and another with the INTERalliance Central Office. As the co-leader of her school’s INTERalliance chapter Kerstin helps to promote STEM on a daily basis. With no set major in mind, Kerstin is sure her future will include a career in computing, engineering, or any other technology related field, and ultimately hopes to create new technology to significantly help people with disabilities.

Ketki L. | Highland Heights, Ohio

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Hathaway Brown School

Ketki has been involved in robotics teams since the fifth grade. She has been a member and a mentor to FIRST Lego League teams. She then joined a FIRST Robotics team at her new school and is now captain of the team. Her team created the robot for the fifth grade FLL team she mentored. Ketki’s passion is programming and she has spent her summers interning with Surgical Systems that allows her to program robots that aid in heart surgery. Ketki also spent a summer designing and programming her own robot, ARRT, that navigates buildings to find and dispose of recycling. She is also currently working on creating her own game. Ketki plans on majoring in computer science and hopes to attend Brown, Stanford, or MIT.

Khalia B. | Charlotte, North Carolina

2008 National Award Winner
Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology

As a result of her participation with the Charlotte chapter of Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) High School Computer Competition, Khalia is proficient in basic HTML and VB.NET programming languages. Through her involvement with the BDPA, Khalia has gained more knowledge about IT. This has benefited the work she carries out in her current internship.

Khalia plans to follow her passion for computer science by attending North Carolina State University and studying Computer Engineering and Business Management. She recognizes the lack of African-American females in the field and hopes her participation will inspire others.

Khue T. | Portland, Oregon

2010 Portland Affiliate Award Winner
Benson Polytechnic High School

Khue is interested in robotics, electronics, and art related projects. She especially enjoys projects that incorporate her love of engineering and music; she made custom speakers that modify LED light colors depending on frequency and intensity changes in volume. She serves as captain of her school’s Robotics Team which made it to the state competition under her leadership, despite being a largely rookie team. 

Khue appreciates the leadership skills that she has acquired through participating in robotics clubs and loves how working in a team to create something brings everyone together. Khue is interested in studying arts and engineering after high school.

Kimberly G. | Salem, Oregon

2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
West Salem High School

Kim has Greg Smith to thank for encouraging her in computer science. She has taken Computer Science I and II and the AP Computer Science course.  During her freshman year she was also involved in one of her school's FTC robotics teams.  In the summer of 2010 she worked for the Salem-Keizer school district's Technology and Information Services Department as a tech support.

Her greatest technical achievement would be her selection as co-webmaster of her school, working with another student on all of the design, updates, and fixes on the school site. Kim plans to go to school for Biomedical and Biological Sciences and Web Development. 

Kimberly A. | Huntersville, North Carolina

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 North Carolina Affiliate Award Winner
Pine Lake Preparatory

Kimberly has participated in her school’s FIRST Robotics program her junior year and senior year of high school. Her first year, Kimberly was voted website team captain by her coach and other sub-team peers. Her senior year, Kimberly was voted Chief Operating Officer of her FIRST Robotics Team. She was very involved in the coding of the autonomous mode portion of the competition, where their robot worked 100% of the time. Kimberly has also participated in an engineering internship with NuVision Engineering for a month where she programmed/tested/sold skids and performed fabrication surveillance on products.  Kimberly mentors the Junior Engineers in the elementary school and volunteered to judge the FIRST Lego League Competition of simple machines at the end of the season. Kimberly is legally blind, and sometimes people will doubt her abilities because of this, but she feels that this award shows that anything is possible. Kimberly would like to major in Chemical Engineering with a Computer Science minor, in order to pursue her dream of becoming a chemical engineer to work with and improve Petrochemicals.

Kimberly D. | Salem, Oregon

2012 National Award Runner-Up
West Salem High School

Kimberly’s journey with computer science started her freshmen year, and has grown into a passion as she prepares to go to Oregon State University to study engineering and computer science. Kimberly joined her school’s FTC robotics team as a sophomore and has helped her team qualify for the World Championships twice. This past year they made it all the way to the quarter finals. Outside of technology, Kimberly is also involved with orchestra and color guard. Within her FTC team she has found ways to lead, such as helping with fundraising events, and helping a middle school FLL team. Overall Kimberly has found ways to incorporate her love for computer science into her life and plans to always be a part of the computer science world.

Kirsi K. | Duluth, Minnesota

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Duluth East High School

In high school, Kirsi joined her school’s FIRST Robotics team and was hooked on the engineering and programming of the robot. Since she had little experience programming at first, she attempted to find a summer program for computer programming. Kirsi ended up working for a professor helping to develop software for the teaching of programming. This job not only allowed Kirsi the opportunity to learn programming but it also provided software to design the robot for her team. Kirsi has now become the first female captain of her team and now works toward community outreach to promote careers in STEM. Kirsi hopes to pursue Computer Science or Electrical or Biomedical Engineering in college.

Kirsten L. | Aurora, Colorado

2010 Denver Affiliate Award Winner
Overland High School

Kirsten is most interested in robotics, computer software engineering, and video game programming. She participated in a week-long video game programming camp sponsored by the University of Denver where she helped create a multi-level 2-D game. She is a member of the Overland Institute of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, which introduced her to programming using LEGO robots.

Kirsten has demonstrated that she is a leader at her school by serving as the Freshman Respresentative in Student Council, where she performs many hours of community service work at school and in her community. Additionally, she is working with her Girl Scout troop to earn the Silver Award by volunteering to organize the annual unity camping trip.

Klaudia L. | Chicago, Illinois

2009 National Award Winner
Northside College Prep High School

Klaudia participates in the Association for Computing Machinery and enjoys listening to presentations that vary from cryptography to IT careers. Klaudia completed numerous computer classes and interned for the Innovative Computing Laboratory at the University of Tennessee. During her internship, she learned about performance analysis, operating Unix and gained proficiency in Fortran. Klaudia is a part of Math Team, the Polish Club and Peer Meditation, a group that work toward solving problems within the high school community.

Klaudia wants to attend the California Institute of Technology where she wants to double major in Computer Science and Bio-Engineering.

Kristen K. | Lakewood, Colorado

2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner, 2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Green Mountain High School

Kristen is an accomplished graphic and video artist. Her expertise in Adobe Premiere Elements and Photoshop has allowed her to create a variety of creative work. One of her pieces received runner up in the Jeffco Art Awards and is now on permanent display in the main entrance of the Belmar Library in Lakewood CO. She has also directed, filmed, and edited numerous video advertisements for her school. Post-high school Kristen plans on entering the fields of Business and Film, before pursuing a J.D. to become an attorney focused on business and technology. she has a keen interest in 3D animation, video production and advertising. Kristen is an active member of her school's B.I.O.N.I.C. Team, National Honor Society, Student Senate, the tennis team, and is an accomplished musician, playing flute in her high school marching band.

Kristen N. | Aurora, Colorado

2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner, 2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Overland High School

Kristen's interests lie in creative graphic design, computer programming, and aerospace engineering. She is actively involved in local theater, photography and enjoys the creative side of computing along with maintaining her position as the Go To person her friends and family can call on when they experience problems with their technology. She enjoys solving computational problems and is always happy to assist friends with computer questions. After high school, Ms. Nelson aspires to study aeronautical engineering in college and pursue her goal of building a new type of rocket that will expand the capabilities of astronauts while keeping them safe from the dangers of space. Kristen is also active in her community and volunteers with Recreational Services of Aurora, assisting with creating a range of graphic art from logos to posters.

Kristin S. | Golden, Colorado

2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Jeffco's 21st Virtual Academy

From a young age, Kristin has expressed interest in web design, as well as athletics. Beginning at age ten, Kristin found her passion for tennis. She is currently playing line 2 singles for the varsity tennis team at Evergreen High School. Kristin is most proud of creating the website for a manufacturer of products for the hospitality industry. Kristin’s efforts have lead to increased exposure for the company, brought in new customers and increased revenues.  Kristin has found web design to be a rigorous process, but a wonderful challenge.  Miss Shirk also served as a spokesperson for Jeffco's 21st Virtual Academy.  She was a speaker for "Colorado's Best" a segment which appeared on Fox 31 news, and promoted awareness for her online school Kristin will be attending the University of Arizona in the fall and intends to major in digital marketing with a minor in web design, she will continue to stay active in athletics in college, as well as furthering her knowledge in web design.

Kristin H. | West Lafayette, Indiana

2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
West Lafayette High School

Kristin has taken computer programming where she learned Visual Basic and is currently taking Computer Science AP where she is learning the Java language.  She is most proud to have programmed an interactive math game for elementary students, which helps them to learn different mathematical operations.

Kristin is thankful for her teacher Mr. Watson, who has supported her aspirations in computer science and her parents for pushing her to be the best student she can be. In the future she would like to study Computer Programming and Engineering.

Kristin W. | Atlanta, Georgia

2012 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Lakeside High School

Ms. Kristin Weiss is a sophomore at Lakeside High School. Outside of school, Kristin likes to ski, play tennis, do robotics, and develop iPhone apps. Her proudest moment is when her BEST robotics team placed 1st in robot performance at the state competition and 6th in the south regional competition. She is especially proud that she was the only girl on the drive team. Dr. Huffman, Kristin’s teacher and mentor, is the most inspirational person in her life because she is always pushing Kristin to do better and never lets her give up.

Kristin’s next step is to continue doing robotics and developing apps for the iPhone. She will also be working at an app development camp at Georgia Tech.

Kristin D. | Englewood, Colorado

2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
St. Mary's Academy

Ms. Douglass has always had a keen interest in computers and technology. From a very young age, Kristin had a fascination with animation and cartoons. She was inspired by her technology club advisers to study computer science. Together, they motivated Kristin to dedicate more time to academics in addition to technology and under there guidance Kristin created a promotional video for the club. Now, the St. Mary’s Academy Technology Club enjoys a great reputation and is known for its strong roster of students available to teach faculty members new technology skills. Kristin aspires to study engineering and computer science at the University of Denver, and hopes someday, to have the opportunity to live in Vietnam.

Kristina Y. | Marlborough, Massachusettes

2011 Massachusettes Affiliate Award Winner
Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School

Kristina has her school to thank for her interest in computer science. Without having computer science throughout middle school and high school, Kristina does not think that she would have been introduced to the fascinating technology there is out in the world.  Her greatest technical achievement would be the 3-D music video she created using Alice. She first became interested in coding computers in middle school when she had to write up a code for her lego robots to race them around a track.

Kristina sees herself graduating from college and becoming a doctor because she would like to work with babies.   

Kristina P. | Henrico, Virginia

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Deep Run High School

Kristina has been involved in computer science since her freshman year of high school when she was introduced to the Center for Information Technology (CIT). Through this program she was given the opportunity to create her own websites using Dreamweaver, binary conversion, and various Java programs, as well as feed her passion for computing. Eventually, she was fortunate enough to be the project manager for CIT’s annual non-profit project in which she and her group worked with a local non-profit to create a webpage for the non-profit. Kristina felt very proud and accomplished after completing this task. She really enjoys the problem solving and creative aspects of web design and is quite confident that her future will involve computing in some way. 

Kristine T. | Evergreen, Colorado

2009 National Award Winner
Conifer High School

Kristine has developed a new prototype for handicapped diabetics who cannot perform the necessary glucose test independently. This requires controlling the lancet device, inserting and removing test strips from the glucometer and manipulating various buttons on the glucometer. The project has won Kristine prestigious recognition, including awards from the Navy, the National Society of Professional Engineers and Intel, as well as First Place in Engineering and Second Place in Best in Show in the Colorado State Science and Engineering Fair.

Kristine is attending the University of Colorado at Boulder and is studying Electrical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering.  

Krystal Nicole S. | Indianapolis, Indiana

2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
Pike High School

Krystal is most interested in computer programming and robotics. She likes to envision how robots can be used, how technology can progress, and how current day machines can always be modified, especially in regards to efficiency. During her first computer programming class she decided to program Tetris, and although it was a challenge she enjoyed seeing the results.

Krystal is captivated by the sheer idea of computer animation and the software involved in producing Pixar films and would like to become a computer engineer with Pixar.

Kyla K. | Saint Petersburg, Florida

2012 National Award Winner
Lakewood Senior High School

Kyla first began programming in the sixth grade and she has now expanded her knowledge and love for computer science by making and perfecting websites in her free time. Kyla was able to join the Center for Advanced Technologies (CAT)'s Network Assistants Program her sophomore year and has remained an active student through the program. She is constantly working on bigger and better programs to better her school, including the creation of a virtual tour and an iPad application for a new virtual hall pass system. She has helped to start a Video Game Design Club and now is focusing on creating a Women in Engineering Club to help young women at her school discover the world of possibilities within engineering. Not only is Kyla active with the technology side of her school, but she is also heavily involved with her passion for art. Kyla plans to dual major in computer engineering and computer science and one day hopes to combine both her passions of art and computer science by one day creating innovative technologies for artists.

Lan C. | Milton, Massachusettes

2011 Massachusettes Affiliate Award Winner
Fontbonne Academy

Lan seeks influence from the achievements of many great computer scientists.  Her greatest technical achievement was when she created a robotic arm via a pulley system with the help of one of her classmates from the Tufts Link Algebra Summer Camp. Lan is interested in Robotics and CAD, and has also done a course sponsored through the Boston Museum of Science.

Lan sees herself being surrounded by technology in the future and hopes to share that with others she works with.  

Laura G. | El Paso, Texas

2012 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Winner
Harmony Science Academy

Laura has completed several projects that relate to computing and technology, but the accomplishments that she is most proud of relate to robotics and art. In her eighth grade year, she decided to join the FLL Robotics (FIRST) program at her school. After the robotics project was complete, she joined several other after-school activities, like The Miracle League. The Miracle League is a nationwide organization for handicapped children that include a close community of families and baseball. She used her leadership expierence from robotics to guide her team into the right path. In her freshmen year, she created several artworks in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator depicting bionic body parts, for she aspires to pursue a biomedical engineering career. She submitted her work to several local art competitions and won prizes from first to fifth place. Her ultimate career goal is to develop bionic eyes and prosthetic movable legs that can be moved by using the person's own muscles and nerves.

Lauren J. | Longmont, Colorado

2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Skyline High School

Lauren is the president of Skyline’s Computer Club and is involved with the STEM academy. Miss Jury can often be found with her laptop editing videoblogs or coding. One the accomplishments she is most proud of is being part of a Genetic Algorithms Case Study when she was a freshman along with another Colorado Affiliate Winner, Josie Lamp. Some other activities she participates in are ballroom dance, color guard, church mutual activities, and theatre. The two people who have inspired Lauren most to pursue her dreams in technology are Mr. Guenther, her Computer Science teacher, and Melodi Oliver, who was a 2011 Colorado Affiliate winner. Lauren plans on going to college at The University of Texas, San Antonio or Brigham Young University, Provo and is excited for what the future holds.

Lauren C. | Charlotte, North Carolina

2009 National Award Winner
Providence Day School

Lauren discovered her love for computer science when she took an introductory class for computer programming. Lauren is the only girl in her graduating class to have taken AP Computer Science AB. In 2007, she participated in an educational research program at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory where she used and helped adapt a program to detect gamma ray bursts in space and calculate the mass of Jupiter.

Lauren uses her knowledge of various programs to teach others, including leading a science group for a program for students from a school in a low income area. Lauren is interested in studying Chemical Engineering with an emphasis in Biotechnology in college.

Lauren E. | Towson, Maryland

2010 National Award Runner-Up
George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology

After graduating from Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Baltimore, Maryland, Lauren moved to Cleveland, Ohio to attend Case Western Reserve University. At her university, she is a peer tutor for the Introduction to Programming course. In her spare time, Lauren is working on a long-term technology project with her programming teacher from high school. It is in the prototype stage right now, but one day hopes to sell it to other high schools for fundraising purposes.

Lauren Y. | Dallas, Texas

2008 National Award Winner
Prosper High School

Lauren Yew has been enrolled in computer science courses for two years and has attended the University of Texas at Austin’s First Bytes Summer Camp, an all women’s computer science camp. At this camp, she had the privilege of meeting  some of the managers from IBM, Google and other gaming companies. This camp led to Lauren’s interest in pursuing a career in management information systems as a way to enhance her skills and offer a balance between business and computers. Lauren plans to major in Management Information Systems.

Lauren W. | Bishop, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
North Oconee High School

Lauren admits that she has always known, on some level, that she was meant to be involved in computer science in some way. Upon entering high school, her beliefs were solidified after taking her first computing courses. After designing several web sites on her own, and becoming proficient in almost all web design languages that she came across, Lauren knew that she wanted to receive higher education in computing. Out of her many accomplishments, however, Lauren is most proud of the fact that she was able to score a 5 on her AP computer science exam. She is currently interning in the Computer Science Department at the University of Georgia in order to develop a mobile application that will text message reminders to children who have undergone organ transplants. As a result of this experience, Lauren is positive that she wants to use her skills in computer science to help others in the future.

Lauren S. | Great Neck, New York

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Great Neck South High School

Lauren has been able to learn and discover computer science through her job as an “Explainer” for the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) museum. This job gave her the opportunity to create an Android app with a team of other Explainers. Her team’s app was selected as the winner and she then went on to present their app to 40 plus board members, including the head of Verizon and the former head of IBM. This competition opened Lauren up to the world of programming and showed her where she wanted to go with a future career. With her job at NYSCI Lauren also created a program called VHOS, the Virtual Hall of Science. This program is a virtual tour of the museum’s exhibits. Lauren is also president of her school’s Music Community Outreach club and a section editor for her school’s newspaper. Lauren spends her free taking online courses from Stanford University as well as interning at a lab at Columbia University.

Lauryn W. | New Albany, Ohio

2012 National Award Runner-Up
New Albany High School

Lauryn began working with computers her sophomore year of high school when she decided to take a robotics course to explore her interests in engineering. She originally started working with LEGO Mindstorms NXT and halfway through they were presented with a new challenge on learning how to program two humanoid Bioloids. Their goal was to understand the mechanics in the motion and controls of the Bioloid and to learn the advanced programming in order to present at the eTech Ohio Conference in February. Her biggest accomplishment was when she worked alongside theater students to create a skit that combined human and Bioloid actors to encourage middle school students to learn about computer science. Lauryn hopes to pursue a major in robotics engineering and either a second major or a minor in another area of interest.

Lavanya J. | Diamond Bar, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Diamond Bar High School

Lavanya was introduced to computing, specifically robotics, at a very young age by her father who is a mechanical engineering professor. Ever since she had her first set of LEGO Mindstorms she has been enthralled with technology and robotics. Lavanya feels most accomplished and proud when she is able to design and program her own robot. This year, Lavanya started her own business called STEM Center USA. This business is dedicated to introduce children and teenagers to robotics, programming, and math at a young age. She is very passionate about this business and about increasing awareness and interest in the field of technology and robotics. Lavanya is confident that her future will involve designing, building, and programming robots, and she is excited to see where her passion will lead her

Lavanyadevi V. | Sugar Land, Texas

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Clements High School

Lavanyadevi is a member of the Computer Science Club at her high school and has competed in many competitions at schools around the district.  She also helped in setting up for the Clements Computer Science Programming competition that was attended by 17 high schools from all around Texas.  Lavanydevi is a member of her high school Computer Science club, Spanish National Honor Society, Science National Honor Society and Red Cross.  She helps to coach novice teams on complex concepts through the Computer Science club, and is proficient in Java, Photoshop and Dreamweaver.  She plans to major in Computer Science in UT Austin after high school. After completing her BS, she plans to get her masters degree and PHD to specialize in Data Mining.  Lavanyadevi hopes to pursue a career in Research and Development in order to invent effective algorithms for Data Mining applications that will be used by the government, businesses, and other engineering fields.

Leah H. | Houston, Texas

2011 Houston Affiliate Award Winner
Cypress Woods High School

Leah is a senior at Cypress Woods High School. She is currently in Computer Science IV and participates in computer science competitions. She is Vice President of the band, the flute section leader, and plays the flute and piccolo. This year she received first chair in the Regional Band Auditions and qualified for the Area competition. She is an active membor of the National Honor Society as well as Senior Women. Outside of school, Leah is a certified SCUBA diver, has a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, and often volunteers with the special needs program at her school.

Leah's biggest influence is her computer science teacher, Mr. Armstrong, who has helped her to become aware of the many different routes a student can take with Computer Science. He inspires her to follow and set her own goals to help further her learning.

For college, Leah hopes to attend MIT and major in computer science. After college, she would like to work as a technical director at Pixar or at another business as an animator.

Leanna P. | Houston, Texas

2011 Houston Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Cypress Woods High School

Leanna's future plans are to make people's lives easier through robotics and artificial intelligence, her two main interests in the IT field. Her computer science teacher, Mr. Armstrong, has influenced her the most in her love for computing. Additionally, the show "Beyond Tomorrow" influenced her to get involved in computing technology because it showed so many innovative new things that could only be accomplished by using better technology.

Lillian C. | Decatur, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 and 2011 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
The Westminster Schools

Ms. Lillian Chin is a junior at the Westminster Schools. During her free time, she enjoys working on projects like her mathematics and bioengineering research projects, as well as coding her FIRST Robotics team’s robot. Lillian also enjoys photography and puzzle hunts. Her proudest achievement is her bioengineering research project with Georgia Tech and Emory University, in which she has created a computational model that simulated coordinated cell motility. While working on this project, she not only learned about the principles of modeling, the mathematics and forces that drive cell behavior, and good cell culture technique, but she also discovered an intense love of research and an eagerness to continue bioengineering. Lillian credits her father as the most inspiration person in her life because of his constant encouragement and motivation for her to reach new heights.

This summer, Lillian hopes to attend the Research Science Institute hosted by the Center for Excellence in Education and MIT. If she is not accepted to this program, then she plans to continue working on her research projects, and hopefully publish a paper or submit one of the projects to the Intel STS, Siemens, or Google Science Fair competitions.

Lilly P. | Hood River, Oregon

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
Hood River Valley High School

This year is Lilly’s second year as team captain of an FTC robotics team, and her first year as one of the main programmers on the team. Through her participation in this robotics team, Lilly has learned so much about building and programming robots. It has been a fun and challenging experience. In their first year competing her team won their qualifiers and went onto the state championship. They won the tournament and also an award for the best robot design. Lilly would like to go onto college and pursue a career in either Artificial Intelligence/Robotics or in Engineering. Specifically, she would like to have a career in which she would be to design, create, and program the robots used in surgery.

Lillybeth G. | Dallas, Texas

2008 National Award Winner
The Academy of Irving ISD

Lillybeth Garza is involved with technology at her school. She has developed a website for her school’s Student Council and works at her school’s Computer Help Desk. In addition to her school involvement, Lillybeth participates in computer courses that require her to compete in different areas of Texas. Through this experience, Lillybeth has gained more insight and furthered her knowledge of technology. Lillybeth has also been taking courses at North Lake College and is an intern at a web design company. After high school, Lillybeth plans to pursue majors in Graphic Design, Web Mastering and Development and Computer Networking and minor in Business or Literature at the Art Institute of Dallas or the University of Texas at Dallas.

Linda P. | Frederick, Colorado

2010 Denver Affiliate Award Winner
Frederick Senior High School

Linda has participated in the Frontiers of Science Institute at the University of Northern Colorado where she had the opportunity to create a solar car. She is involved in an after-school program called MESA - Mathematic Engineering Science Achievement, which teaches students to put their math and science knowledge to the test by performing projects, and also competes with her school's FIRST Tech Challenge team. For the past two years, her team has won the state competition and gone on to compete at the world competition.

Linda plans on attending the University of Colorado at BOulder where she will pursue a career in computer science and electrical engineering.

Lindsay B. | Camarillo, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Newbury Park High School

For many years, Lindsay has been making videos and montages that she puts on YouTube.  When she got to high school, she was enrolled in a school program called Digital Arts and Technology Academy. Here, Lindsay began to expand her knowledge of computing and web design. Due to her increases knowledge and passion for web design, Lindsay is in the process of creating her own small business based on web design. She has designed website for friends, local small businesses and her Chinese Club at school. Lindsay was also a leader of creating public service announcement for water conservation which would then be presented to the city council for review. Although Lindsay was not in charge of the project, she took great strides in helping to edit the video for submission. Lindsay wishes to pursue a double major in Theatrical Arts and either Computer Science or Computer Information Systems.  She then hopes to move to New York City and pursue a career in acting while keeping her small web-designing business.

Lindsey W. | Hanover, Indiana

2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
Southwestern Middle/High School

Lindsey has programmed a computer game at Rose-Hulman’s Operation Catapult. While there she took a crash course in the Python programming language and worked with a group to design and program the computer game. Lindsey is also involved with her school's marching band, concert band, and pep band and plays softball and soccer, and is a member of the math academic team and the student council.

Lindsey plans to obtain a degree in Software Engineering from Rose-Hulman.

Ling Y. | Del Mar, California

2010 National Award Winner
Torrey Pines High School

When a friend showed Ling the robot he had built and programmed from scratch, she knew that she wanted to have that power to create. She joined the robotics club her sophomore year, eager to learn all she could about robots. She has found that she especially enjoys the tournaments because they bring a sense of team unity and spirit. One of her team’s proudest moments was when the team placed first in the International Autonomous Robotics Contest. Other examples of her involvement include serving as copresident of both Botball and Torrey Pines Information Technology (TPIT) Club, a club that refurbishes old and dysfunctional computers for disadvantaged families; and serving as Feature Editor of the Falconer.

Ling also founded Progression Tutoring, a tutoring program at the local public library for elementary to middle-school kids in all subject areas.

Lisa T. | Lithonia, Georgia

2011 Georgia Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Miller Grove High School

Lisa began studying computer programs as a Freshman at Miller Grove High School. She has learned how to use Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, and used her skills to build a robot at a summer program at Georgia Tech University. She also uses her computing skills for the benefit of her classmates by editing the school yearbook and assisting with special projects. Lisa's future goals include attending a competitive university, majoring in Computer Engineering, and then attending graduate school.

Lizette M. | El Paso, Texas

2011 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Socorro High School

Lizette’s greatest interest lies in the area of interface design and web development, but she would also like to know more about programming and robotics. She has interned at UTEP under the NEXUS program and was assigned to the W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation. Through her internship, Lizette had an opportunity to work with new technologies which lead her to a greater interest for a career in the Biological Engineering field. In her school she proves to be a leader as Vice President of the student advisory committee for COSMOS (Curriculum Opportunities for Science and Math Oriented Students), which has led her to think in creative ways to attract students to her organization and help raise funds.

Lok W. | San Francisco, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Balboa High School

Lok has always had a knack for technology, and has always been the go-to person in her family for solving technology related issues such as bad internet connections and the installation of new devices. She became even more interested in computing when she became an intern at Kaiser Permanente this past summer. She became especially interested in the role of technology within healthcare, and how improved technologies can benefit patients. She is very proud of the fact that she was able to contribute to the improvement and design of their website. Lok recognizes a need for better computer networking in the United States, and would like to devise a solution to this problem. She believes that such improvements could have significant impacts in the healthcare world as well as the educational world.

London H. | Houston, Texas

2011 Houston Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Clements High School

London's future goals are to attend a highly competitive university, major in chemical engineering, and then attend graduate school. She is also considering a double major or minor in computer science so she has the opportunity to create computer software or programs for businesses. London has worked on several projects using graphics and logarithms, mainly for school classes. Since she began to study computer science without any idea how to program as a junior, London feels like it has been very fulfilling to see what she has accomplished in a short amount of time.

Lori K. | Chevy Chase, Maryland

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Montgomery Blair High School

Since Lori was young, she has been interested in computing. She attended summer camps where she was able to create her own computer games. Lori is fluent in several different programming languages, including Java and HTML. She has created websites for her school groups and for local businesses. Not only has Lori created websites, she has also revamped her schools scheduling website for students and teachers and reworked her school’s athletics website for easier use. With her work on websites, Lori became a systems operator for her school, helping with networking and security. Lori has also constructed models for robotics teams in her engineering classes. In the future, Lori hopes to combine science with computer programming in her future endeavors.

Louisa A. | San Antonio, Texas

2010 National Award Winner
Alamo Heights High School

When Louisa watched a humanoid robot perform tasks such as shaking hands and walking on a treadmill, she knew that she wanted to pursue a career in robotics. She created a robot for the Texas Computer Education Association inventions contest. While participating in Southwest Research Institute’s Young Engineers and Scientists program, Louisa programmed a hex-octal-binary-decimal converter, created a webpage for NASA’s MMS-SMART mission, and learned QBasic and HTML.

One of her greatest programming accomplishments so far is creating a Yahtzee game for one of her classes at school. She also served as president of the junior associates of the San Antonio Conservation Society.

Louisa is currently a mechanical engineering undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley. She has participated in research with the Berkeley Energy and Sustainable Technology lab developing a wireless mote system to sense daylight and actuate building lights to conserve energy while maintaining an optimal lighting level. Louisa is also a member of the University’s Steel Bridge Competition team. In high school, she participated in science camps across the country, including NASA’s INSPIRE at Johnson Space Center. Louisa is most interested in robotics and space launch vehicles, and this summer will be an intern at United Launch Alliance.

Lucerito G. | San Diego, California

2010 National Award Winner
Southwest Senior High School

Lucerito dreams one day of becoming an engineer and has taken active steps to prepare herself for this future career. She started out by studying Microsoft Visual Basic.Net and teaching herself how to modify codes. Participation in Project Lead the Way’s Science Technology and Engineering Preview Summer showed Lucerito how many engineering job opportunities exist and sparked her interest in the field.

As a member of the Architecture Construction Engineering Mentor Program, Lucerito has been a leader in the effort to design affordable housing in her city. As a leader in her school, Lucerito was the ninth-grade class president and the representative for the ninth grade on the School Site Counsel.

Lucia X. | Southlake, Texas

2009 National Award Winner
Carroll Senior High School

In addition to taking numerous high-level computer science classes, Lucia attends the Computer Science Club where she competes in programming competitions. As president of both the ASTRA and Red Cross clubs, Lucia is responsible for organizing events and fundraising. She combined her love of cross country running and computer science by creating a program that calculates pace per mile and mile per hour speed with time and distance information. Lucia hopes this tool will help other students improve on her cross country team.

Lucia is interested in computer technology’s applications to the biomedical field and hopes to one day pursue a career as a doctor or engineer in this area of study.

Lucy Z. | Marietta, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Wheeler High School

Lucy is a junior at Wheeler High School, she volunteers with the International Environmental Data Rescue Organization, and serves as a networking administrator. In her favorite technology class, Magnet Foundations, she was given the opportunity to work with programs like Photoshop and design basla-wood structures. She is also involved with BEST and Robo Chix, and for the first time this year she is a lead for both groups. As a lead, it is her job to organize banquets and events as well as get the word out to interested parties. One of her proudest moments was when she won the 2011 Georgia Affiliate NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing. Lucy loves her school's Robotics team and plans to attend more computing classes, and learn more and more.

Lydia P. | Scotch Plains, New Jersey

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Winner
Academy for Information Technology

Computing concepts inspired Lydia to learn more about technology, "There is so much that can be done with computer science." Every time that she learns something new, it gives her a new perspective on computing, and makes her want to learn more. Her greatest technical achievement to date is creating a Tetris game in Java. She is a Microsoft Office Certified Specialist, CompTIA A+ certified, Oracle 9i DBA certified and is pursuing a certification in Java.

This Fall Lydia will be attending the New Jersey Institute of Technology for a 5 year BS/MS program in bioinformatics, combining her interests in biology and IT. 

Lynnli W. | North Caldwell, New Jersey

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Winner
West Essex High School

Lynli worked in a biomedical engineering lab with embryonic mice stem cells. There she manipulated the stem cells and investigated the impact of different media on the cells with an eye to developing a solution for bone implants. Her father’s work on artificial intelligence inspires her and she hopes to pursue similar innovations to help better the world. In addition to computing, she has a passion for music, and plays both the piano and violin. She hopes to continue performing and competing.

Although she has not decided what she will study in college, Lynli plans to use her knowledge and skills to advance technology in everyday life. 

Macy L. | Springdale, Arkansas

2011 Arkansas/Northeastern Oklahoma Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Springdale High School

Macy is most interested in database management and web design. She enjoys working with different databases and creating reports, queries, and forms. She was an intern for Tyson Foods working in the Information Systems department. She worked on testing new programs that go into the company and also helped to manage several of the databases Tyson Foods uses.

Macy has been influenced in computing by her teacher Kathy Johnson and her boss at Tyson Foods Nancy Matthews. She loves to travel and try new things and would like to attend college for Database Management.

Maddie L. | Chicago, Illinois

2011 and 2010 National Award Runner-Up, 2010 Illinois Affiliate Award Winner
University of Chicago Laboratory High School

Maddie is a senior at the University of Chicago Laboratory High School where she is currently enrolled in the pilot AP Computer Science Princples class. She is interested in exploring the impact of social media and technology on our world, and is researching  various green technologies and how we can implement them effectively. Her current project is coming up with a sturdy solar panel to be installed on roads, something she dreamed up when she was 10 and now finally has the resources to begin researching.

Maddie hopes to attend Wellesley College to study computer science. In her spare time, she enjoys playing Zelda and Phoenix Wright, reading sci-fi and fantasy books, and using her graphic design skills.

Madeleyne V. | Stone Mountain, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 and 2011 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology

Ms. Madeleyne Vaca is a junior at Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology. A self-proclaimed people person, Madeleyne enjoys participating in her schools robotics club, for which she is the President. She also participates in FIRST Robotics and leads an all-girls team for the VEX robotics competition. She is the junior materials manager for Science Olympiad, and is a member of the Enginnering Honor Soceity, Women in Science and Engineering, Beta Club, and National Honor Society. Her proudest achievement was being accepted in to Governor’s Honor Program as a math major and computer science minor, where she took classes like Fractals, Computer Algorithms, and Advanced Functional Programming in Scheme. Madeleyne credits her parents as being the most inspirational people in her life for providing support 24/7/365. Being engineers, they have not only stressed the importance of getting ahead in school and life, but have also stressed the importance to have fun and relax – creating a balanced life.

Madeleyne plans to attend the Research Science Institute summer program at MIT, compete in the Washington Youth Tour, and complete another full year internship at Georgia Tech working with artificial intelligence and robotics.

Madeline L. | Chicago, Illinois

2012 National Award Runner-Up
The University of Chicago Laboratory High School

Madeline has worked with computers all her life and has known she would want to work in the Computer Science industry before even entering high school. Her sophomore year of high school, she took an AP Computer Science course and became more confident in her abilities to work with computers. Over this past summer, Madeline was asked to manage the technology services and support for the Summer Lab program, a summer camp and school with over 1,200 attendees run by the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. In her free time, Madeline likes to design and create iPhone applications and is in the process of submitting them to the Apple App Store in hopes that others will be able to enjoy her work. In the future, Madeline hopes to attend college where she will study Computer Science and would like to work at Pixar Animation Studios.

Madison B. | Denver, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Thomas Jefferson High School

Madison generously uses her computer skills for the benefit of her fellow classmates. She edits the school yearbook and is President of the photo club. Although she is graduating this year and has many responsibilities, she still took the time to create full externally facing websites for the drama club and the yearbook. She also uses her design skills on yearbook spreads.

Madison has been accepted to the University of Northern Colorado, where she is excited to study Early Education and minor in a design field, where she can continue to use her computer skills.

Madison M. | Augusta, Georgia

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Arabia Mountain High School

In seventh grade, Madison won the Introduce a Girl to Engineering Essay contest which sparked her interest in learning computer science. Since then she has learned everything from Java and raw HTML, to Dreamweaver and CAD. Her main interest is in robotics programming, but she also enjoys developing websites and video games. She was recently hired by Georgia Tech College of Computing to work with elementary aged girls to help them learn more about robotics. This was a thrill for her, as she would one day like to develop a science center for underprivileged girls who lack exposure to STEM fields. She has attended many summer programs that teach Java and Robotics programming which helped to develop her interest in LEGO MINDSTORMS system and Robocode, encouraging her to learn as much as she can in order to pursue her dream. Madison is involved with the National Honor Society, Jr. Beta, and Stanford EPGY Gifted Program, as well as being a NGVF Scholar through Duke University TIP program and being a member of Carnegie Melon Gifted Program.

Maeve M. | Watertown, Massachusetts

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Watertown High School

Maeve has been interested in computers since she was very little and has been involved in computing since it was possible in school. She attended Emagination Computer camps for years and in 2009 she became a Program Assistant. She was chosen among a select few from the camp to enter into the Counselor in Training program. From this, she taught campers how to use computer programs like Photoshop. Maeve also joined her FIRST Robotics team in middle school and was elevated from a member to a programming sub-captain to the team’s co-captain. She is also a leader of her school’s Inter-Departmental Studies program. Maeve aspires to go to college for video game design.

Maggie H. | Siloam Springs, Arkansas

2011 Arkansas/Northeastern Oklahoma Affiliate Award
Siloam Springs High School

Maggie’s passion is for computer graphics and sound related technologies. During her junior year, she competed in the FBLA Desktop Publishing event; placing second at district and third at state. She also enjoys working at a local ropes course challenging others in team building exercises. She has taken Computer Applications, Multimedia I and II as well as Web Design I and II.

Maggie indicates her teacher Mrs. Lisa Hotsenpillar is the one that persuaded her to further her interests in computing.

Mahek M. | Highlands Ranch, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Rock Canyon High School

Mahek is most interested in computer programs such as Adobe Suite CS4, Windows Movie Maker and Photoshop. She is currently taking a Computer Science class and is learning to program in Java, Alice and HTML. Though still a novice, Mahek has worked and experimented with various programs including Microsoft Office and Adobe Illustrator, which she uses for both school work and play. Mahek's greatest technical accomplishment to date has been a security system using lasers.

In a few years, she sees herself attending a top-ranked college and majoring in Computer Science, Medicine or Biotechnology. Mahek speaks Hindi, Gujrati, Spanish and English, and celebrates many different holidays, from Christmas to Diwali. She enjoys helping others and believes that helping others makes her a better person.

Mailee C. | Lenoir, North Carolina

2009 National Award Winner
Caldwell Career Center Middle College

Mailee has a passion for web design and develops web layouts for users on a site called Asiantown.net. She has started her own thread to gain feedback on her designs and meet others who share her passion. Mailee’s school has a special program that allows her to take both high school curriculum and college level courses. She will receive a Web Design certificate through the college in addition to her high school diploma. Mailee participated in the web design contest for SkillsUSA.

After graduating, Mailee plans to attend the Art Institute in Charlotte, NC in order to continue her education in Web Design.

Mallika P. | Palo Alto, California

2011 Bay Area Affiliate Award Winner
Gunn High School

Mallika is a senior at Gunn High School and has taken multiple computer science classes, most recently AP Computer Science. As the President of the Girl's Tech Club at her school, she helps recruit girls for STEM classes and organizes projects such as application building and website development. She also helps layout her school's literary magazine (of which she is Managing Editor) and was Layout Editor for the literary magazine for the California State Summer School of the Arts, where she studied creative writing. In her free time she plays competitive softball, is President of the Literary Club and the Library Advisory Board, and is an avid writer. She hopes to pursue a career in Computer Science and is especially interested in animation and game design.

Mallory B. | Charleston, South Carolina

2011 National Award Winner
Porter Gaud School

Mallory is amazed by the varied applications for computers — from being able to identify where the constellation Cancer will be, its capability to tell which news stories are developing at any given moment, and perhaps most wondrously watching her mom create a tipping program for the Droid phone using a tutorial for parents at the Annual Computer Symposium. Wanting to understand just how computers are able to do this, she is most interested in computer programming and the logic and intelligence upon which it is built.

Mallory is one of only three girls on the Accelerated Computer Track in her grade. She has also worked in the ophthalmology lab at the Medical University of South Carolina as an intern working to find the cause and cure for Age Related Macular Degeneration. Mallory hopes to major in astrophysics, cosmology or particle physics, while also pursuing a degree in English and minor in Computer Science.

Manali P. | Tigard, Oregon

2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
Tigard High School

Paralkar was introduced to FIRST Lego League (FLL) when she was in elementary school, and since then she has been really interested in robotics and programming. Her greatest technical accomplishment so far, would be when she converted the Mindstorm G programs into LabVIEW for her internship at Vernier Software & Technology.

Paralkar is also interested in biomedical engineering, and she has had the opportunity to use the Echocardiography machines while she was working on a research project.

Maria M. | Longwood, Florida

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Lake Brantley High School

Maria took a computer class two years ago and learned about the Microsoft 2010 programs. After this she took an AP computer science class where she was able to expand her knowledge on computer science and developed a deeper interest. Her final encounter with technology and computing thus far is generating different Java codes. Maria’s goal for the future is to become an Emergency Room Physician and join a non-profit organization in assisting low income families without health care insurance.

Marian S. | Fair Oaks, California

2009 National Award Winner
St. Francis High School

Marian has attended a course offered by California State University, Sacramento, as a part of their ACE Program. She participated on her school’s FIRST Robotics Team, the Fembots. She attended numerous workshops related to the competition and learned LabVIEW and C++. Marian enjoys writing the programs that control the robot. Under Marian’s leadership, the Fembots hosted the first Science Technology Engineering and Math Fair for their school community and a local elementary school.

Marian is pursuing her dream of majoring in Engineering, and is currently enrolled at MIT studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. She wants to continue to mentor and inspire women and would love to encourage other Hispanic women to be successful in the world of science.

Mariko T. | Kamuela, Hawaii

2012 National Award Winner
Hawaii Preparatory Academy

Mariko has a wide range of abilities and interests within the computer science world. She was privileged to have an internship with the Energy Lab at Hawaii Preparatory Academy where she worked on a variety of projects include energy monitoring, creating virtual reality tours, and a brain research project. She is currently working on completing a virtual reality tour of her school’s energy lab by mapping sensors, including air flow sensors, temperature sensors, lights, fans, and window louvers, all to be controlled by a virtual reality interface. Mariko is leading a team that will make two presentations at the January 2012 MacWorld | iWorld Conference in San Francisco. In addition to all the projects for her school, Mariko is an intern with the W.M. Keck Observatory, which houses some of the largest optical/near-infrared telescopes currently in use around the world, and is creating a virtual tour of the observatory for their telescopes. Mariko would like to attend a university that allows for interdisciplinary majors in order to pursue computer science and neuroscience.

Marina N. | Monterey, California

2011 National Award Winner
York School

Marina interned at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey where she helped design, construct, and program the prototype for an autonomous robotic target project. She has independently worked with a logic trainer to learn the elements of digital logic and simple circuit construction with logic chips. Marina started a robotics club her junior year. As president, her team built 8 robots for the school’s Fall Fair, and designed a user-friendly interface for people with no programming experience to be able to play.

In college, Marina plans to combine her passion for robotics and her interest in the medical field.

Marisol V. | South Houston, Texas

2010 National Award Winner
Eastwood Academy

Marisol is most interested in the physical components of a computer. She has taken Introduction to Electronics, Introduction to Computers, Computer Maintenance I & II, Introduction to Telecommunications, and Networking+. She learned about taking computers apart and putting them back together during her Computer Maintenance I & II classes; this knowledge was especially useful when she won and set a record time in the “Break/Fix” competition.

Marisol is also involved in many activities at her school such as Secretary Officer of Skills USA, Treasurer for Mu Alpha Theta, Volunteers of America Action Team, National Honor Society, and the Ivy League Focus Group. She also volunteers her time as a morning tutor for her fellow students.

Marissa G. | Saint Cloud, Florida

2010 National Award Winner
Home-schooled

For Marissa it was robotics that launched her love of both engineering and programming. She started out by learning and mastering NXT programming and then moved onto Labview, HTML, C, C++, Dreamweaver, and Java. She is the editor of the technology section of Florida Virtual School News in a Click newspaper; this combines her love of computing with her love of writing.

As a participant, leader, and mentor, Marissa has been involved in many First Lego League teams; one team won the Florida state competition. In the future she hopes to become head programmer and co-captain of her First Robotics Competition team.

Marissa H. | Richmond, Virginia

2010 National Award Winner
Deep Run High School

As a senior in the Center for Information Technology (CIT) at Deep Run High School, Marissa was the Co-Chair and Co-Founder of the Girls of CIT, a club dedicated to uniting the female students. She was also the Historian and Webmaster for her school’s National Honor Society, Website Committee Chair for Mu Alpha Theta, and an active member of Computer Club. Marissa has also participated at Microsoft’s DigiGirlz Day and High Tech Camp.

By applying through RichTech, Marissa was hired as an IT department intern for Ukrop’s Super Markets Inc., a supermarket chain with 26 stores, working with Database Administration, Web Development, and Technical Support teams. Currently, Marissa is a sophomore honors scholar at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA, majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Educational Media. She was selected to participate in the Student Technology Advisory Committee and is involved in Women in Technology. During Marissa's second consecutive summer internship at Bank of america, she developed a Java Training Module and presented it to an international audience of technology professionals.

Marne G. | Clarksburg, Maryland

2009 New York Area Semi-Finalist
Clarksburg High School

Marne is studying pre-engineering and pre-medicine at Bard College at Simon's Rock. She is an Acelleration to Excellence and W.E. B. DuBois Scholar. She plans to earn an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering and then earn an MD/PhD. Her career goal is to become a Physician Scientist. Marne has interned at Drexel University Department of Biomedical Engineering, Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences and the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Drug Abuse. She has made poster presentations of her research at conferences including the New England Science Symposium and the Biomedical Engineering Society. She published her first article in the Journal of the Student National Medical Association. Next month, she will be travelling to the Dominican Republic for a medical mission trip. She has volunteered in the Radiology Departments at two hospitals and recently studied Global Health as part of a Semester at Sea Voyage to: Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, Belize, and Trinidad & Tobago. Marne was recently honored with membership in the Sigma Xi Research Society and holds membership in the following organizations:  Student National Medical Association, American Medical Student Association, American Chemical Society, American Society for Microbiology and the National Society of Black Engineers.

Mary K. | Marietta, Georgia

2012 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Pope High School

Ms. Mary Keilhauer is a junior at Pope High School. Outside of school, she loves sports and music, specifically lacrosse, volleyball, guitar, and ukulele. Mary says her proudest moment is when she won a TAG competition in which she was awarded a $2000 scholarship for college. Her sister Katy has been the most inspirational person in Mary’s life because she is always there to provide encouragement, advice, and support.

Mary has applied for several internships this summer, as well as GHP, but her real goal is attending Georgia Tech.

Mary O. | Janesville, Wisconsin

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Parker High School

All throughout her high school career, Mary has done extensive work with computers and taken numerous computing courses. Mary is extremely proud of the fact that she scored a 5 on the AP computer science exam, as well as the fact that over the past several years she has written hundreds of programs in many different programming languages. However, even higher on her list of accomplishments if the fact that as a member of her schools robotics team, she and her team were able to design and build a robot at last year’s competition that they are very proud of. In the future Mary plans to attend the University of Wisconsin Madison because she really liked their computer science program, and from there Mary wants to ultimately become a computer programmer. 

Maryssa D. | Des Allemands, Louisiana

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Louisiana School for Math, Science, & the Arts

Maryssa attends an elite school for math and science and she has received one of the school’s highest awards in the computer science department, which only one or two students receive every year. She has created programs that assist businesses to run more efficiently. Maryssa is also Vice President of the Computer Science club, which helps teach the community about technology, and she creates posters to aid those looking for jobs in the STEM fields. Maryssa can usually be found helping her fellow students with computer programming issues. She is also in the Emerging Leaders club which has helped her become a better leader. In the future, Maryssa aspires to be a Computer Programmer.

Maya B. | Redmond, Washington

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Redmond High School

Maya now considers a future career in computer science and has found her passion. One of her greatest accomplishments so far was programming a 3D xbox game for the Wumpus competition sponsored by Microsoft. Maya’s team took on a large challenge when they decided to create this complex code in only one month, but they succeeded as they won the award for the Best Overall game. Aside from this large outside project, Maya has also been a member of her school’s VEX Robotics club for four years, and is now the club’s vice president. Also, as a member of the organization Student Research and Development, Maya helps to spread technology education throughout her community. She is planning on double majoring in electrical Engineering and Computer science with Linguistics.

Maya R. | Cupertino, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Monta Vista High School

From a young age Maya had been using technology combined with her art. Beginning by simply editing photos with Microsoft Paint she quickly advanced to teaching herself HTML, CSS, and web design. It was in tenth grade that she truly began to learn about programming. She has participated in the Technovation Challenge in 2011 where her team won second place with their Android Application. Maya helps in her community by teaching a language class for young children and also teaching as a certified yoga instructor. In the future she wants to go into computer science or programming or possibly a field in art, like animation.  Ultimately Maya plans to combine her passion for art with her love for computer technology and science.

Mayla H. | Dearborn, Michigan

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Dearborn Center for Math, Science, and Technology

Mayla is an accomplished student who attends a specialized school for math and science. Here, Mayla got her first introduction to computing and technology and fell in love. She has created websites with her own security system and she has presented a website to the Internet Science and Technology Fair and won honorable mention. From here, Mayla learned animation, which has now become her passion. She has created several Flash movies and since moved onto creating computer programs.  Soon after this, Mayla took on an extracurricular project of creating her own sensory robot. Mayla now uses her knowledge to teach her friends and family about computers. Mayla also volunteers her time as President of the Red Cross at her high school and she is on the board of her school’s Peer-Tutoring Program.  Mayla also serves on the board of her Political Science club and encourages students to take an active role in their community. Mayla hopes to attend college and to make a splash as a female animator.

Mayra Alejandra R. | Miami Springs, Florida

2009 National Award Winner
Miami Springs Senior High

Mayra participated in her school’s Computer Club, where she has competed in contests, including the American Computer Science League. She served as the Vice President of her school’s Math Honor Society. She was involved with TopCoder and Project Euler, websites that allow high school students to compete and test their coding and analytical abilities. In the summer of 2008, Mayra interned with the ERP BOSS where she learned how the school system servers were updated, created and destroyed. She is interested in programming projects and would like to write a program using logic and math to problem solve.

Mayra is attending the University of Florida and is majoring in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics.

McKenzie G. | Sherwood, Oregon

2010 Portland Affiliate Award Winner
Sherwood High School

McKenzie is most interested in engineering projects in which she can design a product on a computer, visualize how it would look, and then build it using the school 3D printer, sticker machine, and laser printer. Currently, she is designing and manufacturing plaques to be placed above the athletes’ lockers for the school’s sports teams.

McKenzie is proud to be a woman interested in engineering, and is helping plan a new girl-only engineering class at her school called “Imagine, Design & Build It – No Boyz Allowed.” Inspired by her experiences as one of only two girls in a 30-person engineering class, McKenzie hopes to encourage other girls at her school to take technology-related courses. 

Meena B. | New York, New York

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Winner
Hunter College High School

Meena’s programming knowledge and experience is rooted in her background making her innately aware of her technological surroundings. Inspiration comes from all angles and Meena’s early experiences are no exception. Following her exposure to the Halting problem at Mathcamp, Meena has pursued her interest in computer science and programming avidly. This is demonstrated particularly in Meena’s development of a program that analyzes which player is most likely to win at Connect Four. Meena is currently expanding her knowledge by learning the MIPS ISA and its hardware implementation.

Meena aspires to be a research professor within computer science or a related field.

Megan G. | Cottage Grove, Oregon

2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
Cottage Grove High

The people who have influenced Megan the most in technology have been her engineering technology teachers. Mr. Kaiser got Megan started in engineering, and Mr. Medina kept her going, as well as letting her use robots. Megan is very interested in robotics and is a programmer on her high school'd FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) robotics team. She is one of two people who understand RobotC at her high school.  In 2009 she helped to create and program the robot for the team and they made it all the was to the finals of FTC state.

After college she would like to go into the robotics field to work for NASA or one of their subcontractors.

Megan K. | Mishawaka, Indiana

2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
Penn High School

Megan has been to 7 foreign countries and says her family has had a big influence on encouraging her to learn everything she can about computing, because of all the opportunities available in the technical field.  She is proud to be the person in her family that they can turn to when they are having computer problems.

Megan is enjoying programming and is looking forward to taking many more programming classes in the future. She plans to go to college for Computer Programming.

Megan C. | Woodside, New York

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Stuyvesant High School

Megan became interested in computer science while taking a required introductory computer science course at school. Since then, she has taken every computer science course offered and participates in a mentoring program in computing with Morgan Stanley. Megan’s proudest technical accomplishment is a project she worked on with a friend for AP Java where wrote a number of image effects, such as shuffling and seam carving.

Megan will be attending the Macaulay Honors College at Baruch College in NY. In her spare time Megan enjoys baking desserts.

Megan R. | Diamond Bar, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Fairmont Prepatory Academy

From a young age, Megan has been exposed to computers and technology.  Megan works for a non-profit in her area by creating PowerPoint presentations and advertising flyers. As a freshman, Megan was selected for the prestigious Engineering Scholars Program at Michigan Tech University, where she built a prosthetic leg. She also volunteers to teach senior citizens basic computer skills so they can stay connected with family. Megan is also captain of her Junior Varsity Basketball team and plays the violin. She helps teach English and math to orphan children in India via Skype. Megan plans to major in Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science with the aspiration of becoming and IT Engineer.

Megan B. | River Edge, New Jersey

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Bergen County Academies

There are many computing related accomplishments that Megan is proud of including her creation of a robot all on her own, as well as the fact that she designed and created a website on her own using Dreamweaver. However, she is most proud of the fact that she was able to complete the CISCO CCNA programming course because it was extremely challenging and required her to think in new ways. Megan is an active member of her schools computer science club as well as a member of the girls’ basketball team. These are experiences that she believes have taught her humility and leadership. In the future, Megan would really like to get an internship at a company like Google or Dell. 

Meghan R. | Weston, Massachusetts

2011 Massachusetts Affiliate Award Winner
Weston High School

Meghan has her introduction to computer science teacher to thank for his influence in computer science. Previous to that class, Meghan had no programming knowledge, but he made the concepts easy to understand, as well as interesting. Her greatest technical achievement is that she is the only female her age taking AP Computer Science, which is the most challenging computer science class available at her school. Meghan sees herself living in a major city, working in a career that she genuinely enjoys. An interesting fact about Meghan is that in her computer class, instead of raising your hand you put a beanie baby on the top of your computer.

Meiri A. | Mountain View, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Menlo School

Meiri first put her passion for computer science to work three years ago when she began creating websites for local businesses. By working with businesses and creating what they wanted, Meiri was able to turn her passion into a job. This real world experience helped Meiri to see how businesses use the web to better their presence as a company. Now Meiri is currently working on applying her computer science skills to a science project on how making a rocket spin will affect their stability, accuracy, and altitude. This difficult project has taught her how to be resourceful, resilient and has truly pushed her limits in computer science. In hopes of encouraging more girls to be interested in computer science Meiri is a TA for a science enrichment program at her school. She is helping girls to be more engaged in the science by organizing such events as a cosmetic chemistry workshop or a Skype session with a scientist from La Mer. Meiri also applies her computer knowledge through her work with the international nonprofit Free the Children. She wants to study more science and engineering, hopefully go to grad school, and do something that will increase social justice and benefit society.

Melanie P. | Mayaguez, Puerto Rico

2011 Puerto Rico Affiliate Award Winner
Southwestern Educational Society

Melanie is a sophomore at Southwestern Educational Society. She is interested in creating websites and programming. As a girl scout, Melanie worked on a community service project for poison control prevention. After gaining help from many Puerto Rican radio stations, the National Poison Control Center, and Safety First, she is now moving the campaign to a website to provide a reliable source of information for others.  The campaign has been taken to many pre-schools in the western part of the island. Melanie has been awarded the bronze, silver and gold awards in community service for her project. She has participated in the National Hispanic Institute’s Great Debate at Villanova University, and was recently invited to participate in the National Youth Leadership Conference forum on Medicine and the Global Youth Leadership Conference. In the future, she would like to pursue studies in biological and biomedical sciences.

Melinda V. | Humacao, Puerto Rico

2011 Puerto Rico Affiliate Award Winner
Colegio San Antonio Abad

Melinda is a senior at Colegio San Antonio Abad. She is interested in biomathematics and likes that it is a diverse field and one in which she can create math based biological models. In the summer of 2010, Melinda visited the University of Los Angeles' Center of Embedded Networked Sensing, where she created an android phone application - "What's Hazardous." The application can be used to minimize potential hazards through the use of participatory sensing. Users can share collected data to alert others of dangers near them As a freshman, she served as the President of the Honor Society at her school. That same year, she was diagnosed with endometriosis; however, she continued to persevere through this painful and challenging time, all the while continuing her growth as a leader. This fall, Melinda will be attending the Universidad Metropolitana where she will be working towards a Bachelor's degree in biomathematics with a minor in computer programming.

Melodi O. | Longmont, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Skyline High School

Melodi's interests in computing started in her early childhood as she was growing up trying to explain to her father how things worked. Though she dreamed about being a magician and a roller coaster engineer, she now believes that becoming a programmer is the coolest idea she had so far. Melodi enjoys learning about the ways computers work and finds programming both rewarding and challenging. She has already learned to program in Alice and Java. Her greatest technical accomplishment to date has been a virtual Rubik's cube that she created in Alice.

Melodi has been accepted to Utah State University where she will pursue a career in Computer Science. She hopes to engage in creating interesting user interfaces and writing more complex programs. 

Meredith D. | Chicago, Illinois

2008 National Award Winner
Barrington High School

Since enrolling in Java I at her high school, Meredith Derr has been intrigued by code writing. Meredith got a strong feeling of accomplishment in her high school computing classes and found a sense of unity and leadership when it came to working in a group with the three other young women in her class.

Meredith is attending DePaul University studying Interactive Media.  She is well on her way to her dream of someday designing video games. 

Metrah Mohammad N. | Portland, Oregon

2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
David Douglas High School

Metrah is very grateful for the chance to work with computers stating, "If I had stayed in Afghanistan I would not have had the access to computers, and as a girl my interest in computers would not have been accepted in Afghan society." She credits her parents' perseverance and encouragement which gave her the inspiration to work hard and to get the most out of life.

Metrah has volunteered over 40 hours at Free Geek, a nonprofit organization that provides free computers, repairs and rebuilds them. Through Saturday Academy's apprenticeship in Science and Engineering program, she worked as a software test developer for CafeGive allowing Metrah to discover and learn about technologies.

Mia E. | Chicago, Illinois

2012 National Award Runner-Up
University of Chicago Laboratory High School

For as long as she remembers, Mia has been comfortable with computers and in high school those around Mia could easily recognize her aptitude for computer science and would often flock to her with questions and ask her for help. This was when Mia discovered that not only did she enjoy computer science, but she really enjoyed teaching others about computer science. Mia is particularly interested in the problem solving aspect of computing and, therefore, hopes to one day pursue a career in the areas of algorithmic studies and/or cryptography. She plans to attend college to obtain her degree in computer science and to one day become a computer scientist with an internet security company, the government, or something similar. 

Michelle R. | Fresno, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Edison High School

Beginning her freshmen year, Michelle has been captivated by programming and computer science. Throughout high school Michelle has been involved in MESA and CART, Center Advanced Research Technology for Multimedia Graphics. Her first year in MESA Michelle won first place in the Fresno State preliminary competition for Web Design. While participating in CART last year Michelle was the lead graphic designer for all four group projects, and this year she is the lead artist for two groups on their showcase projects in Interior Game Design. Michelle also demonstrates her leadership skills by being captain of the color guard. Using programs such as Flash, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and game maker, Michelle is comfortable in putting her ideas on the computer and she is positive that graphic design is the one industry she will be a part of for the rest of her life.

Michelle P. | Longwood, Florida

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Lake Brantley High School

Michelle began her computer career when she was in elementary school with her School News Network. Her job was to create the animations and transitions on the screen during the program which was streamed live across the school. In middle school she took a mandatory basic computer class which she outgrew quickly and proceeded to learn HTML coding. When she got to high school, Michelle learned to run commands in the school’s MS-DOS prompt. Michelle ultimately wants to get her undergraduate degree in Mathematics and then pursue an engineering degree in graduate school. She’s hoping to land a job working as a computer engineer for the government dealing with security. 

Migela E. | Charlotte, North Carolina

2010 National Award Winner
David W. Butler High School

Migela is most interested in troubleshooting computer hardware and web design. On the computer hardware side, she enjoys the building, maintenance, and selection of computer components. Web design allows her to use her creative side, experimenting with different colors, ideas, and pictures. Outside of school, Migela prides herself in being accepted to and attending the Microsoft DigiGirlz Camp where she gained hands-on experience in the technology workforce.

Migela also volunteers at ImaginOn, the children’s library located in downtown Charlotte where she assists teenagers in the Tech Central and Studio I areas. Migela plans a career in computer systems analysis.

Mikaylah G. | Westfield, Indiana

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Westfield High School

Mikaylah was first introduced to computer science from her father at the young age of 8 years old. She found her true calling in web design when she enrolled in her first web design class in high school, and her passion only grew from there. Shortly after discovering her passion, Mikaylah was hired by a company called BlueSky SEO to help design their webpage. Mikaylah is very proud of the fact that the site that she helped design is now the second most searched for site on Google in its category. Mikaylah had now advanced beyond the classes offered at her high school and has moved on to taking college level computing courses, and she has even started teaching her own class in which students learn how to code XHTML and use Dreamweaver to create web sites. In the future, Mikaylah hopes to combine her passion for computing with her passion for health sciences in order to help people. 

Molly E. | Grand Junction, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Grand Junction High School

Molly loves the hardware side of computer science. She is interested in robotics and electronics, and she has learned the necessary technology behind networks (such as protocols and logical models). Molly knows, however, that it’s important to have interpersonal skills as well as technical skills, and she’s worked very hard to be a role model and mentor to technically inclined students at her high school.

Molly intends to study computer science, but she hopes to eventual be a teacher.

Molly C. | Sherman Oaks, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Harvard-Westlake School

Molly is a student with interdisciplinary interests, ranging between theater and computer science. Molly has written and directed two nationally award-winning films and has been the main editor for both as well. She is also the founder and designer of her school’s blog, H-W Voices where students and teachers alike can share daily experiences. Molly has also interned at the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California and has been a part of the High School Scholars Program the University of California-Los Angeles. This is where Molly came up with the idea for an Android app, “Another Man’s Treasure”, that tells people when things have been left on the side of the road for other people to claim for second use.  Molly has also volunteered her time at Koreh LA, where she helps elementary children learn to read through fun activities. Molly hopes to continue to bring people together through technology.

Monet T. | Lilburn, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Brookwood High School

Monet was first intrigued by computer science when she began drawing and working with Adobe Photoshop. Her artwork has become well known within her school as well as in regional art competitions, including a display at the Georgia State Capitol. Monet has also won the All-State Art Symposium as a sophomore and junior with her computer graphics designs made on Photoshop and Illustrator. In the classroom, Monet helps other students to understand coding and tutors her fellow students. She enjoys helping other students understand the world she grasps so easily. Monet has a true passion and desire to continue with computer science and information technology well into the future.

Monica M. | Lafayette, Colorado

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 and 2010 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner, 2010 Denver Affiliate Award Winner
Peak to Peak Charter School

Monica’s father, a professor in the field of computer science, initially inspired her to become involved in IT. She was motivated to pursue her interest further after taking an introductory course to web programming during her freshman year of high school. It was during that course that she became aware of the significant shortage of women in the computer science industry. After her positive experience in this introductory course, Monica went on to complete every computing course offered at her school as a sophomore, earning a score of 5 on the AP Computer Science exam, and is now fluent in Java, Javascript, PHP, HTML, and CSS. As a junior in high school, she is now collaborating with a computing professor at the University of Colorado Boulder to develop a smartphone application intended to aid the overall health of the lower socioeconomic classes by reducing their snacking. This project aligns with Monica’s aspirations for the future, which involve effectively combining technology and medicine to improve healthcare for society. Monica is also the captain of her school’s Science Olympiads team, and maintains her 4.0 GPA while actively participating in Speech and Debate, Spanish Honor Society, National Honor Society, Tri-M Music Honor Society, and Model United Nations.

Monica C. | Tarzana, California

2010 National Award Winner
Harvard-Westlake School

Monica’s interest in robotics and programming has led to many opportunities. She has been involved in work with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Scalable Networks Technologies. At JPL Monica was involved with the SpaceSHIP program where she helped design a part for the Mars Space Laboratory. At school, Monica has been involved with the robotics team, computer science club, and a rocketry team. The rocketry team was even given the opportunity to participate in NASA’s Student Launch Initiative Program.

In the future, Monica hopes to attend MIT, majoring in computer science and aerospace engineering. She plans one day to work for either NASA or JPL.

Monique J. | Charlotte, North Carolina

2008 National Award Winner
Garinger High School

Monique Jones’ interest in information technology started with the Tech Connect Club at her high school where she was able to develop 2D videogames, create 3D virtual models and design multi-purpose GIS maps online. Monique held a summer internship with a financial company, and now holds a part time position as a Junior Programmer where she learns about working in corporate IT. Aside from her studies with technology, she is an avid participant in the Black Data Processing Associates. Monique plans to attend the University of North Carolina - Charlotte this fall with a major in Computer Science and a certificate in Game Design and Development. She will pursue a career in Game Development as a Lead Programmer for a videogame corporation.

Mopewa O. | Damascus, Maryland

2012 National Award Winner
Clarksburg High School

Mopewa became inspired to study computer science and engineering in the eighth grade when she took a Robotics class that revolved around LEGO MINDSTORMS. She adored the unrivaled sense of accomplishment from putting together a robot and successfully getting it to do what she wanted. Mopewa is the co-founder of the Clarksburg Robotics Team, Coyote Robotics, and participating in this club has not only reinforced her decision to major in computer science but has also led her to robotics engineering. She has held various titles-construction manager, head of electrical team, co-captain, and captain of her robotics team. Mopewa is currently involved in a capstone project that focuses on creating an Android application that allows students to keep track of their homework assignments. Mopewa is eager to go to college to meet like-minded individuals who also share a passion for computer engineering, and she looks forward to joining her college’s Engineering without Borders and Habitat for Humanity programs.

Morgan V. | Houston, Texas

2011 Houston Affiliate Award Winner, 2010 National Award Runner-Up
Cypress Ranch High School

Morgan's biggest influence is her computer science teacher, Mr. Warren. He has influence her to be involved in computer programming, which is her main interest in the IT field. Morgan has received awards from the University Interscholastic League programming competitions, as well as the FIRST Robotics Competitions. An interesting fact about Morgan is that her best programming ideas come to her in the shower. 

Morhea S. | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

2011 Arkansas/Northeastern Oklahoma Affiliate Award Winner
Broken Arrow High School

Morhea became interested in computers and technology at the age of 6. She is interested in robotics and the programming, design, and development of our societies technologies. She has participated in Technology, Computing for College Careers, Programming/Visual Basic, and Networking classes.

Morhea is working towards her dream career in Electrical Engineering and possibly later going into designing medical devices. 

Namrata D. | Irvine, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
University High School

Since fourth grade, Namrata has been using digital art applications, such as Photoshop and Illustrator to design magazines. Once in high school, Namrata began taking programming class and her interest in computer science soared. She and some friends joined NASA: No Boundaries and placed in their first competition. Namrata and her team chose a project on robotics engineering and created a website to demonstrate their efforts.  Soon after, Namrata joined COSMOS at the University of California, San Diego and learned how to program apps for the Android as well as learning to program robots. Her work at COSMOS and her passion for graphic design led Namrata to start a project of building a search and rescue robot.  Namrata was able to create a robot that could navigate a maze and search for certain shapes. She then included a pseudo-thermal imaging camera and she and her team won the Gordon Fellow Award. Now, Namrata continues to program and work with digital art applications for her roles as Chief Staff Artist and Layout Designer for her school’s literary magazine.  Namrata has also helped organize a Bollywood dance team as well as holding the office of Vice President of the Indian Student Association. She is the founding member and treasurer for the Touch Club and the American Heart Association on her campus. Namrata hopes to pursue a career in animation and programming and she hopes to expand the field of graphic search.

Natalia G. | Orlando, Florida

2010 Florida Affiliate Award Winner
Dr. Phillips High School

Natalia has always had a love for both art and science. When taking her Design II class, although one of the only girls in the class, she came to understand the new software and embrace its challenges. She learned how to design a house using AutoCAD.

Natalia has always been interested in astrophysics and has been a member of NASA’s INSPIRE Online Community for several years. Through this community she has been able to learn more about NASA and what they have to offer in terms of careers, the problems they are trying to solve, and the current projects they are working on.

Natalia A. | New York, New York

2008 National Award Winner
The Lawrenceville School

Natalia was introduced to computer science when she became intrigued by robots and computer programming. This experience led her to found the first robotics club at her high school. In addition to taking computer science classes, Natalia has also been involved in summer programs that target under-represented students in the CS field. Natalia has won numerous awards associated with computing and engineering.

After graduation, Natalia plans to enroll at MIT or another university with a strong technology, computing, or engineering program. She hopes to impact people’s lives through the field of Computer Science in the future.

Natalie S. | Salem, Oregon

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
West Salem High School

Natalie has been involved with FIRST robotics for seven years and her team has made it to the state competition every year except for one. At the last FTC regional tournament, Natalie’s team had the only robot that was able to balance on the bridge properly. She and her team were so proud of themselves, and this is one of Natalie’s proudest moments thus far. She is looking forward to programming many more robots and having them perform equally as well. Natalie has also worked on the Ocean Odyssey and worked to fix the pipeline and protect the natural gas reserves. Her ideal career would be either dealing with the programming side of robotics or video game design/programming.

Natalie H. | Littleton, Colorado

2009 National Award Winner
D'Evelyn Senior High School

Natalie taught herself HTML and PHP and has been using these languages for years to create independent websites. Java has introduced Natalie to a new way of programming and in high school she had become very interested in learning more about its applications to the space industry. She hopes to use her knowledge of computing to program satellites, guide rockets, as well as implement propulsion systems.

Natalie is attending Carnegie Mellon University and is intending to major in Computer Science with a minor in Chemistry.

Natasha S. | Colonial Heights, Virginia

2010 National Award Winner
Appomattox Regional Governor's School

Natasha is most interested in creating interactive websites, programming robots, and designing multiplayer web-based video games. She has participated in FIRST Robotics competitions, with her team winning robotic design awards at the regional and state level; science fairs where she has placed for her projects at regional and state competitions; a summer research internship at the Virginia State University STEM labs; and Digispired, a video game design and robotics programming project funded by the National Science Foundation.

On top of those achievements, Natasha is also the vice president of the Student Cooperative Association.

Natasha N. | Marina, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
York School

Natasha has grown up learning many programs and eventually found her way to robotics. She is currently the president of her school’s Robotics Club and is participating in the Zero robotics Competition. During this past summer, she was fortunate to be offered a position on a team at the Naval Postgraduate School in the Space Systems Department as a research assistant for an astronaut. She worked on creating, programming, and launching a high altitude balloon that went over 96,00ft with her fellow interns. Natasha has worked with Lego Mindstorms, Alice, Flash, Java, C and Basic Stamp. She has grown to love programming and hopes to go to college to study some form of engineering and computer science.

Neshka D. | Ocoee, Florida

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Ocoee High School

Neshka’s road to understanding computer science and having the chance to study coding and programming has been long and difficult, but she has come out victorious.  Her interest for websites and computers started while she was still in elementary school, grew during middle school, and has become her passion throughout high school. Neshka is now shifting from websites to more hands on as she participates in her schools’ FIRST robotics club. As one of the few girls involved with computer science at her school she hopes her presence will help to mark a path for other girls to be taken seriously within computing and technology. All of Neshka’s knowledge has led her to want to work in technology security, so she plans to major in computer science with an emphasis on software engineering and cryptology.

Nichole W. | Atlanta, Georgia

2008 National Award Winner
Frederick Douglass High School

Nichole Wiggins has been exposed to various aspects of computing languages through her work with her school’s Robotics Team, Technology Student Association, and Video Production/Multimedia Club. Through these programs, she has gained a better understanding of the design/development process, specialized computer software, exploration of technology systems, and the social and political consequences of technological change. Nichole plans to attend the Georgia Institute of Science and Technology to pursue a degree in Civil Engineering. She hopes to earn her Master’s degree at Carnegie Mellon and to one day design a chain of five star hotels in major cities of the US, incorporating aspects of physics, mathematics, project management and design.

Nicholette F. | Brooklyn, New York

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Winner
Midwood High School

Nicholette is the youngest of nine children and she has volunteered at her local library assisting the public with their technology needs. Her greatest technical accomplishment was learning computer programming for Robotics, games, as well as HTML. Computer programming was very challenging for her but she met the challenge head on and was successful in achieving her goal. Nicholette completed a college course known as “Bridge to Computing,” which helped spark her ongoing interest in Computer Forensics. Her professor, Mr. Myers was the catalyst for increasing her awareness of how beneficial this field of study was to society.

Nicholette is attending Rochester Institute of Technology in the Fall in pursuit of a degree in Information Security and Forensics. She aspires to become a member of the CIA or other government agency in the future.

Nicole H. | Bayamon, Puerto Rico

2011 Puerto Rico Affiliate Award Winner
Academia Santo Tomas de Aquino

Nicole is a freshman at Academia Santo Tomas de Aquino. She is interested in the design and programming of robots. For the past two years, Nicole has participated in the Puerto Rico Institute of Robotics Technology Challenge. The program is an alliance with NASA, the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican Government, and members of Industry. Students participating in the program learn concepts in physics, math, pre-engineering, programming, structures, technology, research, and team work. Nicole's team, consisting only of girl scouts, won the Energy Award in 2009. She is extremely proud that she had the opportunity to operate the robot during the competition and won several matches. She is a member of her school's Science Club, Dominican Youth Movement and the Honor Roll. Nicole plans to continue studying and participating in robotics programs, where she will learn more about the field of computing and technology.

Nicole E. | Altamonte Springs, Florida

2011 National Award Winner
Lake Brantley High School

Nicole has been programming computers since her family first owned a PC. While others were chatting on instant messenger, she was coding. She wants to incorporate programming with her accounting skills to create what she considers the “job of a lifetime.” Nicole worked on a project to combine weather information with geographic data systems to create visual displays in the event of a natural disaster. As a Florida resident, she cites hurricanes as a real concern for community. Nicole’s GIS mapping program uses Google satellite images to track weather that is relevant to a user’s area and other phenomena that may affect the weather, such as wildfires.

Nicole is planning to attend college in Florida and wants to study business and computer forensics.

Nicole B. | Denver, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Thomas Jefferson High School

Nicole likes to design things, and hence she is interested in graphic and web design. One of her favorite accomplishments was creating a website for a local nonprofit organization from scratch. As a junior, Nicole teamed up with a classmate to compete in the Skills USA program to design a website within eight hours. They placed second in Colorado. Today Nicole assists and mentors the students of the SkillsUSA club in web and graphic design. Nicole was fortunate to create websites for several groups at TJ high school including student council, girl’s golf, the class of 2011, and the volleyball team. In addition, she is the module director in her yearbook class.

Nicole has been active in student government since elementary school. During her junior year at TJ, she was the class president. Now in her senior year, Nicole is the student body president. In addition to earning a letter in academics, she has also earned letters in girl’s softball and girl’s golf.

Nicole F. | Windsor, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Windsor High School

Nicole’s interest in technology began at home, with the encouragement of her mother. Since then, she has created a blog documenting activities with her FFA chapter. In addition to being an active member of FFA, Nicole has been involved with the Girl Scouts of America for the past ten years. Nicole’s accomplishments include acting as a leader of her local Girl Scout Service Unit, where she earned the bronze and silver awards; she also serves as a leader of her FFA chapter.

Nicole plans to attend college to study horticulture and eventually open her own flower shop. Additional future plans include using technology in innovative ways to help farmers with harvesting, planting and additional agricultural tasks. 

Nicole U. | Turner, Oregon

2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
Cascade Senior High School

Nicole's greatest technical achievement is her ASE internship last summer at Oregon State University under the guidance of Dr. Margaret Burnett. She helped Dr. Brunett with the CHI '11 study, and was able to analyze data and write scripts in Perl. Nicole was the first girl to take the Computer Technology class in her high school.

Nicole participated on an FLL robotics team and her team placed 2nd at the qualifying tournament and went onto the state competition. She has also participated in the FIRST Tech Challenge as her team's programmer and helped her teammates with RobotC.

Nicole T. | Marlborough, Massachusetts

2011 Massachusetts Affiliate Award Winner
Assabet Valley Voational High School

Nicole has her vocational teacher Mrs. Madzar to thank for her interest in Computer Science. Mrs. Madzar always challenged Nicole and gave her harder projects to work on. She works at a local computer shop in her hometown, updating the website and database and repairing computers. Nicole’s greatest technical accomplishment was taking apart her friends's Macbook to repair the super drive when she had never taken apart a Mac before.

Nicole sees herself going to college in the future and a fun fact about Nicole is that her first school photo is of her on a computer in kindergarten.

Nicole D. | Palmdale, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Pete Knight High School

Throughout high school Nicole has changed her interest from graphic design to networking and computer system administration but she has taken a wide variety of courses including Multimedia 1, Multimedia Design 2, Web Managers 1, Video Game Design 1, and AP Computer Science. As a part of the Digital Design and Engineering Academy, Nicole has been the secretary for two years. This past year Nicole also volunteered at the Super Science Saturday where she helped kids launch the rockets they has made. Nicole now looks forward to college and her future career in Networking and Computer System Administration. One of her biggest accomplishments will be being able to succeed in this male dominated career path and show that women can handle this career.

Nicole B. | Bartlesville, Oklahoma

2012 Arkansas & NE Oklahoma Affiliate Award Winner
Tri-County Technology Center

Nicole sees herself working as a biotechnical engineer in the medical industry. Nicole is a past Intel International Science and Engineering Fair finalist, and is competing in the Oklahoma State Science and Engineering Fair this year. Her research has been published in the Oklahoma Academy of Science journal. Nicole wants to be a positive role model for other women inspiring to succeed in a male dominated field and has set a goal for herself to be the voice that changes perspectives of women engineers. She credits her pre-engineering teacher, Brenda Irving, for inspiring her to continue to achieve and aspire in the field.

Nicole P. | Apopka, Florida

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Lake Brantley High School

Nicole discovered her interest in computer science in middle school where she signed up to take computer classes every year. She is now currently enrolled in the Advanced Placement Computer Science course in her high school and plans to participate in the IBM Mainframe competition this year. She is particularly interested in the coding aspect of a computer and is currently learning Java and is fascinated with how many different commands there are and how a computer can process and understand them all. Nicole aspires to become a software engineer and wants to design and develop operating systems, network control systems, and business applications.

Nike W. | Ava, Montana

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Ava Victory Academy

Nike is a senior in high school and is an avid member of her schools engineering club and robotics team. Her robotics team participates in competitions annually and they have placed for the last three years in a row. In these competitions the teams are required to program robots to be able to find their way out of mazes, draw geometrical shapes, and complete various other tasks. Last year Nike took a dual-credit computer science course through Southwest Baptist University and became the first junior at her school to complete the course. Nike has been accepted to Southwest Baptist University where she looks forward to being a part of their computer science program as well as their mathematics program. 

Nina Y. | Tualatin, Oregon

2010 Portland Affiliate Award Winner
Tualatin High School

Nina is interested in projects that deal with electrical engineering, especially with computers and electromechanical systems. She took an active role in designing and modeling a robot while on her high school’s FIRST robotics team. Nina experienced the pride and sense of accomplishment that came with working on a team to build a technological object from the ground up and she hopes to create revolutionary products that are beneficial to people on a daily basis after pursuing a degree in engineering.

Nina was inspired to continue her education in engineering through her internship at MixZon, where she used GIS technology to create detailed for the company’s clients, created a user manual for future interns, and designed a new Graphic User Interface for the company’s software. Nina plans to study electrical engineering in the future.

Nina L. | Rockville, Maryland

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Montgomery Blair High School

After working with a team to create a rover that is able to take temperature measurements, identify the direction of a light source and time of day using a photocell, and test for the presence of water using a resistor, Nina felt extremely accomplished. She is proud of their rover as well as another project she completed on her own, outside of school. Nina created a Javascript website that simulates vaccine trials to help scientists determine the number of monkeys necessary for a statistically significant study before they actually do the study with live monkeys. At school Nina is also president of her school’s Web Design club and she manages the high school’s newspaper website.  After high school Nina is planning to major in electrical engineering and computer science, and one day having a career in this area she is so passionate about.

Nishtha O. | Niwot, Colorado

2010 Denver Affiliate Award Winner
Niwot High School

Nishtha is most interested in web design, which she hopes to turn into a career. She created a website for the FIRST robotics club, which has information in three languages, games, slideshows, videos, and many interactive links. For the 2008-2009 school year, Nishtha received the Excellent Website Award in the Western Region for her design work. To help her with her design projects, Nishtha has learned how to use several programs including JAVA, Lab View, C, C++, and Robot C.

Nishtha volunteers at the Casa de la Esperanza community center where she guides students in developing websites and helping them learn how to use Microsoft Office. She is also a winner of the Mayor's Community Positive Impact Award.

Noelle D. | Boston, Massachusetts

2008 National Award Winner
Haverhill High School

Noelle owns three websites, including one of the most popular fan-sites for the band NLT and the most popular fan-site for Taylor Momsen, the actor from the popular show Gossip Girl. She also has a personal website that she uses to blog and showcase her own graphics, layouts and designs. Noelle creates videos such as re-cut versions of Hollywood movies and documentaries of her family. In addition to writing tutorials for web and graphic design, Noelle gives computer lessons to children at her church.

Noelle plans to attend a 4-year college to major in English and minor in Computer Technology so she can someday become a web designer and writer.

Noor M. | Las Cruces, New Mexico

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 and 2010 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Winner, 2011 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Las Cruces High School

Noor has always been very interested in the field of computer science. She is specifically interested in the innovation of new forms of technology that aim to help students learn. In fact, she developed a science fair project called “The Digital Number Line” that was an electronic tool intended to help special education students learn the number line. She has also investigated several interfaces to increase the participation of special education students in the field of math. Because of these projects she has won many awards such as the Intel Excellence in Computer Science Award, Women in Technology Award, New Mexico National History Museum Award, New Mexico Hearing and Speech Association Award, and the Yale Science and Engineering Award. She actively participates in several clubs/groups in her school and community including Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA), FIRST robotics, SuperComputing Challenge, and the Pre-Freshman Engineering Program (PREP). Noor will attend New Mexico State University to study biology and computer science. She hopes to join Engineers without Borders as a bioinformatician.

Nora C. | Chicago, Illinois

2011 National Award Winner
Benito Juarez High School

Nora has a passion for preserving our environment, an aptitude for problem solving, and a love for science. She would like to develop hardware and software for geological imaging equipment, and her goals include using GIS to analyze patterns and trends on the effects of urban runoff on water quality. Nora volunteered at GO! Team, a program designed to engage South Chicago Latina girls in computers. She is the founder of STARS (Students Towards Achievement Responsibility and Succeeding), a mentoring program pairing upperclassmen with underclassmen to help freshmen navigate their first year. She used her passion for Information Technology in this program, when she created a website to help students outline their future goals and create a connected network of mentors.

Nora is also a member of the Chicago Youth City Council. In this position, she gained experience in multimedia and web design, iMovie, Photoshop, and desktop publishing software. She served on the Leadership and Technology Committee, and helped the council members install Java and C++. Nora is an Illinois Virtual School Scholar and hopes to study information technology in college.

Nupur B. | Indianapolis, Indiana

2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
Park Tudor School

Nupur has had plenty of computer programming experience, including working on a 2D side scrolling game, which she and her partner named World of DOOM. The player could choose from three characters which each had different attacks and power-ups (each character had three power-ups to enhance their regular attack). There were thirteen levels which had puzzles and enemies, a miniboss which was different for each character, and a final boss.

This year Nupur is in Web Design and she is learning how to make websites with ASP.NET, C#, and HTML.  The final project will be to build a website for a non-profit, and will be her first project for a public audience. Nupur is considering attending college to study biotechnology.

Nupur G. | Cupertino, California

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 National Award Runner-Up, 2010 Bay Area Affiliate Award Winner
Monta Vista High School

Both of Nupur’s parents are engineers, so she naturally became interested in computer science. They have always encouraged her to pursue her dreams, and they continue to support her interest in engineering. She has done a lot in computer science thus far in her life, but one of her most notable accomplishments is winning the Chairman’s Award at the FIRST Robotics Silicon Valley Regional with her robotics team during her sophomore year of high school. As an officer of her 100-member team, she was responsible for guiding the wiring and programming of the robot. Nupur has also created a library of instructional material for the Monta Vista Robotics Team, including tutorials on Inventor, LabVIEW, soldering, and many other topics. She has won several awards including first place in the Engineer Girl 2008 at the “Engineering Energy for the Future” national competition, and second place in the Technovation Challenge. Nupur hopes to pursue a degree in computer engineering so she can focus on both electrical engineering and computer science and with this knowledge and experience she hopes to bring more advanced technologies to third world and underdeveloped countries.

Olivia W. | Princeton, New Jersey

2011 National Award Winner
Stuart Country Day School

Olivia is interested in computer science because she believes that computing can help make a difference for society. She has taken the AP Computer Science test (on which she scored a 5), and enrolled in courses in computer science at Princeton University. She also helped to build a program for use by teachers in their math classes. The program simulates randomly generated math flashcards and helps students practice and master math skills. She is the head of the Mu Alpha Theta Math Club at her school, and helps encourage kids to get involved with and excited about math through the use of games that make math fun.

Olivia is graduating a year early and plans to attend college in pursuit of a degree in computer science.

Paola G. | Fabens, Texas

2011 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Winner
Fabens High School

Paola is interested in Computer Graphics and Game Design and Development. She joined robotics in her freshman year, and taught her robot how to move and kick a ball. She is also part of the first generation UIL Computer Science Team. She taught herself how to program in HTML, and thoroughly enjoys webpage design. In addition, she is the section leader of the clarinet section in the Fabens High School band.

Parbattie B. | Ocoee, Florida

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Ocoee High School

Parbattie has had a passion for computing ever since she took her first engineering course during her freshman year of high school where she was introduced to video game design, building bridges, and programming. She especially loves computing because of the way it combines logic, creativity, and common sense. Parbattie’s proudest accomplishment was when she completed IBM’s Master the Mainframe Contest Part Two in which students were able to explore the wonders of mainframes, and see how companies like IBM really work. This was a great learning experience for Parbattie and she learned great problem solving skills from it. In the future Parbattie aspires to bring a more creative side to computing by developing musical applications for robots and artificial intelligence. 

Patricia H. | Fremont, Nebraska

2012 Nebraska & SW Iowa Affiliate Award Winner
Hanus Homeschool

Patricia has a wide range of interests, from computer security to data analysis to robotics. She won a state-level competition for her project on studying the genetics of ground ivy and co-founded the robotics club in her neighborhood. Currently she is busy preparing for the next round of robotics competition. Patricia also uses technology to create fun gifts for her family. She wants to become an engineer so that she can continue tinkering and building – and to spread the word that Alan Turing is the coolest.

Patricia P. | Chicago, Illinois

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 National Award Runner-Up
University of Chicago Laboratory Schools

Patricia became involved in Computer Science with a mandatory course for freshmen that taught basic Computer Science. From this course she proceeded to take the AP course where she developed a program that compares thousands of documents and determines if there is plagiarism based on the number of similarities between them. This past summer Patricia held two jobs. She was a teaching assistant for the summer Intro to Computer Science course and also worked at the Computation Institute, an organization jointly run by the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratories. In the future, Patricia wants to learn more about a computer hardware as well as tune up her Python and Java skills and move onto more advanced languages such as SQL. Patricia would like to attend a university to study computer science or engineering.

Paulana H. | Tucker, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Tucker High School

Since the young age of five years old, computers have captivated Paulana, and since the sixth grade she has known that she wanted to become a computer engineer. Even in middle school Paulana was winning computer science competitions for her website. She has held positions on her school’s FIRST Robotics team, MATE Team, President of Jr. SWE, and a member of JETS. Throughout her time in each club or on each team, Paulana has spent her time involved with computers. She has also been privileged to have an internship with Georgia High School Association and Playon! Sports. Ultimately Paulana hopes to attain a doctorate in computer engineering.

Paulina K. | New York, New York

2008 National Award Winner
Stuyvesant High School

Paulina Karpis has shown her dedication to computer science by continuing to enroll in technology classes. As the news editor of her school’s newspaper, her background and interest in computers have benefited her journalism skills. Paulina hopes to earn degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics. She will pursue a career in web development or software engineering, with the goal of revolutionizing technology.

Penelope B. | Portland, Oregon

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
Benson Polytechnic High School

Penelope first became interested in technology when she joined the robotics club on the first day of high school. She was the first girl to join, and immediately loved working on the complex problems that robotics presented. She is passionate about working with robots, programming MINDSTORMS NXT using RobotC and is also the captain of her robotics team for the second year. She specifically enjoys writing autonomous programs that utilize sensors to perceive the changing environment for the robots. This is especially fascinating to her because she enjoys watching things move and react to danger. She has created several programs to prevent the robot from attacking itself, usually making the robot easier and more fun to drive. She is proficient at programming in RobotC and she has used her skills to teach other young girls programming during a summer camp called Girls Get IT, as well as at other camps, festivals, and scrimmages. She plans to teach an introduction to robotics and computer science class at her school for freshman. Penelope plans to major in Robotics or Computer Science in college.

Penelope credits her mother as one of the most influential people in her life. Her mother urged her to get into robotics and pursue what she is interested in. Penelope's high school has also been very influential in getting her interested in technology. Her robotics mentors, specifically John Delacy, have been very helpful in developing her skills in computing.

Penelope is very proud of the shooting program that she wrote for her sophomore year robot. She learned how to program that year because all of the previous programmers on the team had left, and she jumped at the opportunity to learn something new.

Polly I. | Tigard, Oregon

2010 Portland Affiliate Award Winner
Tualatin High School

After developing a love for programming through her school’s Robotics team, Polly is now exploring her interest in engineering. To help her reach her goals, she has taken several courses including web design, introduction to engineering, digital and robotics logic, and digital arts. Polly is also very active in other clubs at her high school; she is involved in student government, the student mentor program, and Yearbook, and serves as secretary for various other clubs.

Before moving to Oregon, she volunteered for Students Taking Action in Topeka, a group that educates high-school students about the dangers of drug and alcohol use.

Pratheeksha M. | Fort Collins, Colorado

2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Poudre High School

In addition to winning a Colorado Affiliate award, Ms. Mallikarjun is also a Runner Up in the National NCWIT Aspirations in Computing awards. As a freshman, Pratheeksha was encouraged to join her school's FIRST Robotics team, even with little background in computing. Soon after she joined the team, she gained a great understanding of programming. She now learns other programming languages on her own time to expand her knowledge. In addition to being a senior programmer, she is also active in teaching the first year members about the programming of the robot and the workings of the team in general, while also helping with the overall management of the team. Pratheeksha greatly values volunteer work, so she visits schools across her city with the previous year's robot to teach younger children and is a prominent volunteer at the farm run by the city's recreation department. Pratheeksha aspires to be a software engineer or a computer scientist.

Preksha N. | Corvallis, Oregon

2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
Corvallis High School

Preksha joined FLL robotics in the beginning of middle school and was enthralled both by the challenges and the rewards it provided. In the summer of her freshman year she was selected for an internship dealing with computer graphics at Oregon State University. There she was able to work one-on-one with a masters student. This experience gave Preksha an in-depth view of C/C++ and she learned about OpenGL, and CAD.

Preksha hopes to pursue a computing and technology career after she attends college.

Prianthi P. | Beaverton, Oregon

2010 Portland Affiliate Award Winner
Southridge High School

Prianthi has a special interest in coding, and has studied game design, web design, and robotics. Through these courses, Prianthi has mastered GameMaker, javascript, HTML coding, and Lego Mindstorms NXT software. Using these skills, Prianthi created her senior engineering project in which she designed a robot that can separate different colored medicine bottles by using sonic radar and a color sensor.

Prianthi has demonstrated leadership in computing by helping her peers in the classroom, especially by coming up with creative ideas to solve problems. She plans to study Computer Science and Software Engineering in college.

Priscilla R. | Victorville, California

2011 National Award Winner
Silverado High School

Priscilla taken several technology courses including Digital Electronics, Computer Information Systems, NASA INSPIRE ’09-’10, PC Repair and Tech, etc. She has worked on several projects that involve circuits; such as an LED circuit board based on The Scarlet Letter, and has also attended a summer camp by Boeing where she was introduced to space computing programs. As president of her school’s STEM club, she has worked with the boe-bot, vex robot, and has assembled various circuits to produce projects including a working alarm and printer jam detector.

Priscilla wishes to encourage girls to pursue careers in technological-based fields and plans to study computer science at the University of Southern California.

Priyanka R. | Cupertino, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Monta Vista High School

Priyanka has explored many different aspects of computing and technology from programming to game design, but her strongest interest lies in the field of electrical engineering and computer science, specifically in radio frequency, (RF), communication systems and microelectronics. For the last four years, she has been a research and programming intern at Out of the Fog Research and focuses on the applications of RF communication in navy applications. Priyanka hopes to gain a more thorough background of electrical engineering and its real-world applications – not only for pursuing an engineering career, but also because of her genuine interest in exploring and learning more about the field.

Quynh-Chi H. | Milpitas, California

2011 National Award Runner-Up, 2010 Bay Area Affiliate Award Winner
Notre Dame High School

Quyhn-Chi spent most of her high school years in her school's robotics workshop programming in LabVIEW and discovering CAD with Pro-E. She devoted much of her time as team captain expanding her school's all-girls FIRST robotics team. During her free time she enjoys creating webpages, playing around with Photoshop, and listening to music on her record player. She is currently pursuing Civil Engineering at Mission College.

Rachel H. | Slidell, Louisiana

2011 National Award Winner
Northshore High School

Rachel  is the only girl on the robotics’ control team, and handles most of the electrical wiring and a significant part of the programming. She’s applying for the SEAP program at the Stennis Space Center, and wants to develop software to aid the mentally and physically challenged. She volunteers with Special Olympics and is inspired by how computing can help people.

Rachel has been a science camp counselor, a varsity high school swimmer, a tutor, the historian for her school robotics team and the assistant secretary for the beta club. She created the beta club’s first website and runs the robotics team’s website. Rachel plans to study computer science and earn a Ph.D.

Rachel E. | Westborough , Massachusetts

2011 Massachusetts Affiliate Award Winner
Westborough High School

Rachel has her brother Steven to thank for his encouragement of her love of computer science. When Rachel was younger, Steven explained to her how she could contribute more to society through computer science. Her greatest technical achievement was when she wrote a sudoku program in C. She was also on a team that received an honorable mention last year in the Moody's Mega Math Challenge.

In the future, Rachel sees herself going to college. She definitely wants to work in computer science but is not sure if she wants to be doing research or something more applied. A fun fact about Rachel is that she is currently learning to write iphone apps and is working on her first one. Also she is the youngest of four children and all of her siblings majored/ are majoring in computer science.

Rachel J. | Acworth, Georgia

2009 National Award Winner
Kennesaw Mountain

Rachel attended a magnet school that offers a wide range of Business, Marketing and Career Technology Courses. She enjoys working with the design aspect of technology and presenting information to viewers in the most effective way. She designed and displayed several public relations works for theatre productions and websites. One of her favorite projects included altering an LCD TFT computer monitor to have a transparent screen to serve as a projector. In her junior year, Rachel received the Tech. III Award for her academic achievements in the Technology Department.

Rachel is enrolled at Georgia Tech with the intended major of Computational Media. 

Rachel C. | Columbus, Georgia

2012 National Award Winner, 2012 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Spencer High School

Rachel first became interested in computer science her freshmen year and decided to apply for the Academy of Computer Science and Electronic Game Design where she is now recognized as the top student of the Academy.  Throughout high school Rachel has had multiple computer science accomplishments including first place in the Techno Expo competition, third place in the Georgia Student Media Festival, and taking second place in the international gaming competition Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC). Her most proud achievement was the winning project designed to help students learn vocabulary for the reading and vocabulary sections of the SAT. Besides her computing accomplishments, Rachel has been involved in 4H, is a member of the Explorers program in her school, and is president of both the National Honor Society and the Future Business Leaders of America chapters at her school. Rachel plans to study computer programming in college and hopefully become a programmer for a Fortune 500 company.

Rachel K. | Benbrook, Texas

2012 National Award Winner, 2012 DFW Metroplex Affiliate Award Winner
North Crowley High School

Rachel was introduced to computer science by her female computer science teacher who has been a role model and provided her with strong encouragement. Most recently Rachel has used her computer science skills to help her group of five to take second place in the Texas A&M Department of Computer Science and Engineering High School Computer Science Contest. This project furthered Rachel’s interest in cyber security and inspired her future career plans. Rachel has maintained a 4.0 while still remaining an active leader in her school community. She is Co-President of Student Council, Vice President of Computer Science Club, Vice President of her choir program, Treasurer of National Honor Society, and Editor in Chief of the yearbook staff. She is extremely proud of founding her school’s Computer Science Club and looks forward to all the club will accomplish even after she graduates. Rachel intends to major in computer science, and upon obtaining her degree she would like to work in the cyber security field for a government agency, such as the National Security Agency.

Radina K. | Houston, Texas

2011 Houston Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Taylor High School

Radina was born in Karachi, Pakistan and came to the United States in second grade (at seven years old). She is interested in studying Aerospace Engineering because she loves to learn new things. Radina has many varied interests, including nature, basketball, tennis, badminton, and ethnic foods.

Rahia Z. | Brea, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Brea-Olinda High School

Rahia entered into the Global IT Academy as a freshmen and has been deeply involved with computer science ever since. A few of her projects have included recreating Pacman and starting a program called Creative Computers. Creative Computers is a five-week course where high school students help teach children basic computer applications. Rahia volunteers with the Creative Computer organization and has also won the Project Tomorrow Student Innovator award because of her work with Creative Computers. Rahia is now the president of her school’s Global IT Academy Club, a member of the National Honor Society, and is on the cross country team. In college she plans to major in Biotechnology or Biomedical Engineering because of all the possibilities and chances to truly impact lives.

Ranika K. | Charlotte, North Carolina

2008 National Award Winner
Cannon School

Ranika is exposed to technology on a daily basis. Her high school provided each student with an IBM Thinkpad which enables students to become masters of computers. Ranika is particularly interested in the software DataStudio, which collects and analyzes information gathered from various sensors. She has been able to use motion sensors, force sensors and light sensors to easily collect data. Being exposed to various software programs on the laptop has sparked Ranika’s interest in computing and IT and her desire to pursue these fields in college.

Ranika is currently a junior at Carnegie Mellon University studying Electrical & Computer Engineering, where she will be specializing in embedded systems. During the summer of 2011, Ranika interned at Qualcomm, where she worked on Android display. Next, she will be interning at Microsoft in the Office division during the summer of 2012.

Rashele R. | Salem, Oregon

2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner, 2010 Portland Affiliate Award Winner
North Salem High School

Rashele has taken computer science courses like Java, C++, Pascal, Q-Basic, and Alice, and works as a computer science intern at her high school. As an intern, Rashele services and maintains software and hardware for networked systems, and created a database of 1,000 questions that allowed the Cisco Certified Networking Academy instructor to create personalized exams of any size and topic. She was Student Leader of North Salem High School’s first Tech Conference, a completely student run conference on technology. This experience helped Rashele realize she really enjoys being in charge, stating: “I love being one of the few women in my level of programming, and being able to tell the guys what to do.”

Rashele is involved in the No Boys Allowed group, which is working to bring more girls into the computer science field through outreach to the feeder middle schools and creating a video that will be presented at regional and national technology education conferences.

Raya C. | Monticello, Arkansas

2011 Arkansas/Northeastern Oklahoma Affiliate Award Winner
Monticello High School

Raya is interested in computer programming and enjoys producing videos. As a 9th grader, Raya produced a "Bus Safety Video" teaching kids in the Monticello School District the importance of bus safety using MAC software. She also created a video for incoming freshman to address their transition to the high school environment. Raya is also the captain of the Pom Squad.

Raya’s East Lab teacher, Mrs. Keturah West has been her computing influence.

Rebecca K. | Staten Island, New York

2011 National Award Winner
Staten Island Technical High School

Rebecca is a member of the MIT-Lemelson Invent team, and contributed to the development of a wheelchair design that included heating and cooling components, a bacteria-free, porous fabric, a pressure-relief aspect, wireless communication, and a holonomic base. Rebecca also helped develop the drive train on the wheelchair so that it could slide in all of the cardinal directions without making wide turns. 

Rebecca joined her school’s FIRST Robotics team four years years ago, and through the years of being a member of the robotics team, she has developed a passion for engineering. Rebecca wishes to attend a top-ranked university and is interested in projects related to artificial intelligence.

Rebecca C. | Indianapolis , Indiana

2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
Park Tudor School

As a freshman, Rebecca took an AP Computer Science A class and earned a 5 on the exam that May.  Her school took part in a year long American Computer Science League (ACSL) competition and qualified for the national All-Star contest in May. At All-Star, she was recognized for achieving a perfect score in the regular contest and being one of the highest scoring individuals on the All-Star short answer test.

Rebecca attended an IUPUI high school programming contest with a friend and they placed third, becoming the first all female team to place in the history of the competition. She has spent over 120 hours programming the World of DOOM computer game, plans to study computer science in college, and credits her parents and Mr. Ritz, her teacher for inspiring her interest in computer science.

Rebecca N. | Winter Garden, Florida

2010 Florida Affiliate Award Winner
Ocoee High School

Rebecca is very involved in her school’s academic and extracurricular activities. She is the president of her school’s chapter of National Honor Society (NHS) and the school marching band. As the president of NHS Rebecca has been involved in organizing and putting together many fundraisers for a variety of illnesses such as Breast Cancer, Heart disease, Down’s syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, Leukemia and Lymphoma. She has also volunteered at the local Ronald McDonald House through NHS.

Through her school she has also been involved with a local elementary school in a project to get children, especially girls, to become interested in computing and technology.

Rebecca M. | East Patchogue, New York

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Winner
Bellport Senior High School

Rebecca attended the Game Development Academy at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where she learned 3D modeling using Maya and game development tools such as Pygame, Python and the Unreal Development Kit. Her proudest accomplishment in technology is the game she created at the academy, for which she created the graphical interface. Rebecca has been an officer in the school Computer Club all four years and served as President as a Freshman. 

Rebecca would like to combine her love of art and technology into a career in game design. She is interested in creating games for kids that are both educational and fun. 

Rebia K. | Phoenix, Arizona

2011 National Award Winner
Xavier College Preparatory High School

Rebia is most proud of her accomplishments in computing and technology that have helped other people. As the Chair of the Arizona Governor’s Youth Commission – Committee on Youth Homelessness, she is working on a website for youth and case managers that aggregates data about shelters and resources in her state. She is involved in the ASU Engineering Projects in Community Service and developed a solar power system for a girls’ school in Bangladesh.

Rebia is a lab assistant at Barrow’s Neurological Institute, is a student ambassador at her school, and the youngest member of the American Muslim Women’s Association of Arizona. She plans to study bioengineering in college, and continue on to medical school.

Resi W. | Monroe, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Monroe Area High School

Starting in yearbook, Resi’s interest for computer science quickly branched out into more aspects of her life. After discovering her love for computer science Resi joined her school’s Technology Student Association and realized that her love for computer science was also a passion for engineering. Through TSA she was able to use VEX Robotics, web design, film, animation and AutoCAD. Her school’s TSA chapter has ranked first in the state of Georgia for the third year in a row. Resi is heavily involved with her school including being the representative for her school’s Green Team, secretary of STEM Club, vice president of TSA, design editor of yearbook, feature columnist for whycantyou.org, vice president of National Honor Society, and a mentor for an Engineering Girls Only Summer Seminar. For college, Resi plans to attend Georgia Institute of Technology’s five-year BS/MS program for Computational Media and Digital Media.

Rhey I. | Montpelier, Virginia

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Patrick Henry High School

After taking many classes in computer science Rhey is certain that programming and computer science will be in her future. She has a lot of computer science experience thanks to her work within the classroom, as a part of her schools robotics team, Computer Science Club, and by attending the Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Summer Academy. Rhey was the Computer Science Club historian as a junior, and is now the club president. After all of her work with technology Rhey is certain she will go into the field of computer science, she plans to go to Virginia Tech and major in Computer Science. She hopes to be a programmer or work as a software engineer.

Rio L. | Jacksonville, Florida

2010 Florida Affiliate Award Winner
Stanton College Prepartory School

Rio’s unique mix of a love of art and music and her knowledge of computers has led her to combine these interests in many ways. At first she started by using a program called GarageBand and Final to help record her piano playing and write sheet music. Since then she has been taking more computer classes at school, and was even given the outstanding student award in her QBASIC 2 programming class. She has taken steps outside of her school to expand her knowledge by attending a three week game design class on the Stanford campus and has taken online courses to learn C++. She enjoys using programs such as Photoshop to create and edit her artwork.

This fall Erika was selected as one of 44 high school girls to participate in “Take the Lead,” a fully paid women’s leadership conference at Mount Holyoke College.

Robin B. | Boulder, Colorado

2010 Denver Affiliate Award Winner
Fairview High School

Robin's interest in software design and programming started very early on in her life, while she was still in elementary school! In fourth grade, she learned Q BASIC and created a rudimentary word processor to do her homework, and in middle school she taught herself C++. Today, Robin has been working on a hybrid genetic algorithm that reassembles shredded images.

Robin is a leader at her school where she is a senior member of the speech and debate team and captain of the Varsity Knowledge Bowl team. Both of these positions require her to research many topics, organize the logistics of the club, and help other members.

Roslyn P. | Hood River, Oregon

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
Hood River Valley High School

Roslyn has learned a ton about building robots and is the main programmer for her robotics team. Even though they were a rookie team they came in first place in their qualifying competition and the team went on to states in their first year, and this is an accomplishment that Roslyn is most proud of. Being the head programmer of her team has taught Roslyn a lot of important life skills and especially invaluable leadership experience. Roslyn credits her teacher, Mr. Blackman, for getting her so involved in engineering and robotics. He taught her a lot about engineering and more importantly helped her to enjoy it. Roslyn would like to pursue a career in engineering, science or mathematics.

Roya E. | El Paso, Texas

2011 National Award Winner, 2011 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Winner
Harmony Science Academy

Roya is an intern with the CR2G Research Group and CS department at the University of Texas at El Paso. Her work includes building and programming a robot that can solve the Rubik’s Cube. She is passionate about robotics, aerospace engineering, and programming. She has taken all the technology classes offered at her school, and is a member of her school’s University Interscholastic League (UIL) Computer Science Team.

Roya plans to study robotics engineering, programming, and aerospace engineering, and hopes to attend the University of Texas at Austin or MIT. Her goal is to someday work for NASA and design robots that can operate in space and advance the knowledge and boundaries of mankind. 

Sabrina G. | Antonito, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Antonito High School

Sabrina's interest in Computer Science started with her participation in Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA). She is also interested in conserving the environment for future generations. Her greatest CS accomplishment has been designing a website with two teammates for her school’s FBLA club. She is a member of the National Honor Society, FBLA, Student Council, the Cross Country team, Volleyball team, Cheer squad, Basketball team, and the Track & Field team. She is also an active volunteer in her community.

After high school, Sabrina plans to attend college to study environmental science and to earn a degree in environmental engineering.

Sahar K. | Sanford, Florida

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Lake Brantley High School

Sahar has been influenced by technology since learning her ABC’s as a child through a computer screen. Since then, Sahar has used everything from Microsoft office and WordPerfect to Open Office and Autocad. Her freshmen year of high school she took digital design and learned how to use Photoshop among a number of other design programs. Sahar recently received the chance to visit Microsoft Corporation’s Headquarters and was able to tour around and test the most recent products Microsoft had to offer. Sahar wants to get involved in computer engineering and research and develop computer hardware. 

Samantha M. | Las Cruces, New Mexico

2011 National Award Winner, 2011 El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Winner
Las Cruces High School

Samantha has a variety of computer and non computer related interests. Her interest in computers and technology began when she was very small, and she has since accomplished a number of exciting computing achievements in robotics and programming.

Over the summer of 2010 Samantha participated in a computer science camp called Young Women in Computing. During this camp she built and programmed her own robot, designed several games and animations, and programmed a microchip and its components to execute a sequence of sounds and lights. She plans to pursue a degree in computer programming after graduation in 2012, and hopes to one day work at Google.

Samantha S. | Sheffield, Massachusetts

2011 National Award Winner, 2010 Massachusetts Affiliate Award Winner
Mt. Everett Regional High School

Samantha is interested in robotics and computer science and is currently enrolled in AP Computer Science as a Virtual High School course. She’s studied Visual Basic, Java, HTML, C++, and Advanced Web Design. She is currently working on building her own website to display her handmade leather masks, which she makes as a hobby.

She’s worked with her school’s all-girls FIRST Lego League (FLL) for six years, as a participant, a mentor, and currently as a coach. She also founded her school’s FIRST Technology Challenge team and works extensively with Robolab, Mindstorms, and RobotC.

The non-profit who hosts the FLL teams in her area has asked her to lead workshops for both other high school FLL coaches and local teachers, on learning lego robotics and how to teach it to students. She will also help give a presentation to FIRST advocating robotics in the Berkshires, where she lives.

Samantha hopes to attend Worcester Polytechnic Institute for college and major in robotics engineering.

Samantha Q. | Indianapolis, Indiana

2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
Thomas Carr Howe High School

Samantha is the first member of her family to graduate high school, she wants to continue her education with a double major in computer science and business.  She desires a career with NASA and she thanks her Mom for all the support she has given and getting her out of bed each morning and her brother for pushing her to be where she is today.

Samantha S. | West Orange, New Jersey

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Runner-Up
West Orange High School

Samantha excels in AP Computer Science class, and is interested in Java programming. She is one of two female students in her AP Computer Science class, but hasn't let that slow her down.

Samantha plans to attend Temple University and will be part of the College of Science and Technology Honors program where she will major in computer science. After finishing, she plans to develop new software and technology, and has resisted attempts by her parents to distract her from pursuing a career in technology.

Samantha S. | Clewiston, Florida

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Clewiston High School

Samantha has developed knowledge of Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, HTML, CSS and XHTML. She uses these tools to create blogs, forums and web sites for herself and also for others. She usually takes charge for school projects and is in charge of making Power Point presentations, animated videos or research in her school projects, she is very proud of her ability to create these useful tools that are utilized and enjoyed by others. She is a member of the drama club, Harvest of Hope, Spanish Club and also part of the Basketball team. Samantha has helped many of her friends and teachers to use and maintain their computers and has also helped the school with its website.  In the future she hopes to study graphic design, because she wants to create things that people can enjoy and that will make their lives easier.

Samantha S. | Gate Mills, Ohio

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Hathaway Brown School

Samantha has a flair for engineering and this has been apparent since she joined her FIRST Robotics team freshman year.  She was invited to work on an autonomous wheelchair at Case Western Reserve University. This project led her to working with her co-captain on a recycling robot, ARRT. Samantha was in charge of building the robot’s mechanics while her captain was in charge of programming. Her junior year, Samantha became the captain of her FIRST Robotics team and when hardship fell on the team, she was able to pull the team together and place in the top twenty-four at Regionals. As a senior, Samantha also found a passion in biology and is fascinated by how the living and non-living interact. This has spurred Samantha to want to major in Biomedical Engineering.

Samantha O. | Denver, Colorado

2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Thomas Jefferson High School

Ms. Ockey is an accomplished artist and animator, making it to the state competition for 3D Animation for SkillUSA, where she serves as an officer. Samantha creates her own animations and tiny platform games and greatly enjoys drawing and bringing her creations to life, by telling stories through her animations. Samantha’s other passion is Debate, which she has been active in for two years. Through logical consistency, factual accuracy and some degree of emotional appeal to the audience, Samantha has thrown herself into the art of persuasion, and debate has been the biggest influence in Samantha’s life as of late. Samantha is a member of her Varsity Denver Urban Debate League for her high school and plans to continue debating in college. Samantha will be attending Johnson & Wales University next year and is the proud sister of a US Airman.

Samantha W. | Longwood, Florida

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Lake Brantley High School

Samantha has recently come to realize all the applications and amazing opportunities that come from being more involved in computing. After taking the AP Computer Science course and joining the Programming Club, Samantha has become more passionate about computers. Samantha is involved with the IBM Mainframe Outreach program through her Programming Club which helps the youth and elderly to learn computers and coding. Her school is currently trying to get a Girls Robotics Club together and Samantha can’t wait to join. Samantha wants to major in either mechanical engineering or computer engineering. 

Samantha B. | Page, Arizona

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Page High School

Samantha used to believe that computers were merely for talking to friend on Facebook and writing essays. That all changed when she took her first computer literacy course. She is a member of her schools computer club, as well as a member of SkillsUSA. Samantha is very proud of the fact that she was able to obtain her CompTIA certification at her first SkillsUSA competition. After this achievement, it was clear to Samantha that computing was her true calling. In the future, Samantha hopes to serve in a branch of the military where she can utilize her computing skills. Although she knows it will be difficult and will require a lot of hard work, Samantha hopes to one day become an officer in the military. 

Sara B. | Northglenn, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Colorado Virtual Academy

During the past two years, Sara has incorporated technology into her education on a constant basis. She will graduate from high school this year, after having completed her last two years of schooling online. When it comes to technology, Sara is most interested in computer programming, working with databases, and multimedia design—she has also recently mastered photo editing and basic cartooning.

After high school, her plans include joining the US Air Force and attending college. In addition to putting her technical skills to work on a regular basis, Sara serves as a mentor and tutor to others. These activities include taking on the vice presidency of the Junior Catholic Daughters of America, and leading the Youth Activities of VFW post 3917.

Sara L. | Vancouver, Washington

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Heritage High School

Sara’s passion for 3D design and animation has been fed through her school’s AP 3D Design/Animation course. Not only does she use computer science for animations but also loves being able to create 3D models to help explain or demonstrate complex concepts. Sara is also a member of her schools group Imagine Tomorrow that specializes in Biochar and environmental issues. She has also competed in a science competition at Washington State University. In addition to leading within computer science, Sara is an active member of her school’s choir, and is on the student choir council. Sara is extremely dedicated to her future goal of becoming a 3D designer or animator for either Pixar or DreamWorks.

Sarabeth J. | North Potomac, Maryland

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Thomas S. Wootyon High School

Sarabeth always knew that she loved technology, but it wasn’t until she reached high school that she realized just how much she loved it, and just how many opportunities there were in the field of computing. She is an active member of the Academy of Information Technology which is a nationally certified program that combines learning in the classroom with real world experience. Sarabeth was required to take an intermediate level computing course last summer through this program and she is very proud of the fact that not only did she pass this course, but she excelled in it. Through her extensive studies in the field of computing, Sarabeth has come to realize that she is especially interested in computer security issues and hopes to pursue a career in this field one day.

Sarah H. | Bethesda, Maryland

2011 National Award Winner
Holton-Arms School

Sarah has built a computer from scratch, and has interned at Georgetown University this past summer in the neuroscience lab, where she programmed and debugged tests before testing herself (as the first and only subject to prove their hypothesis wrong). Sarah has been an active member of the robotics club since she joined in 7th grade and has been president for the past three years. She helped lead her robotics team to winning two awards in the regional BotBall competition.

Sarah plans to study engineering, robotics and computer science in college and hopes to design a new operating system.

Sarah P. | Crown Point, Indiana

2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
Crown Point High School

Sarah is interested in computer programming and web design. She really enjoys seeing the finished product and realizing that she created it with her own knowledge, skills, and time. She works part-time as a computer technician at a computer shop called On-Site Computer. There she helped the store go paperless and she created a database for the store.

Sarah would like to major in computer science at IUPUI.

Sarah M. | Ocoee, Florida

2010 Florida Affiliate Award Winner
Ocoee High School

Sarah has a strong interest in cybernetics and artificial limbs and is a proud member of several organizations in and outside of her school including: National Honor Society, the computer programming team, the SECME Engineering team, Mu Alpha Theta and the math competition team. Sarah is in her second year of Computer Science courses and plans visits to the local elementary schools to encourage younger students to become more interested in technology.

She also spends many lunch periods at the Mu Alpha Theta math tutoring center & the National Honor Society tutoring center helping her classmates.

Sarah L. | Troutdale, Oregon

2010 Portland Affiliate Award Winner
Reynolds High School, Center for Advanced Learning

As a junior at the Center for Advanced Learning, Sarah has already been working on her CCNA certification, which will qualify her to work as a network administrator. In her Network Systems, CISCO, and Programming classes, Sarah has learned about a wide range of topics, from administration skills for Linux and Windows operating systems to business ethics to using Java to create programs with loops and strings. 

Before completing high school, Sarah hopes to gain some work experience by participating in an internship in which she can learn how to provide her clients with good customer service and how to manage cases. After high school, she hopes to study Computer and Information Security, Networking, and Telecommunications.

Sarah W. | Rockwall, Texas

2009 National Award Winner
Rockwall High School

Sarah has been highly involved with her school’s Robotics Club. In her junior year she was elected software lead and instituted autonomous code for the first time in the club’s existence. She attends numerous robotics seminars in order to bring important and new information back to her fellow club members. Sarah loves seeing her designs come to life and enjoys the responsibility of organizing and leading her robotics team. Sarah has held leadership positions with the French Club, the National Technical Honor Society, Clarinet Senior Section and Bible study.

Sarah plans to go to medical school, where she will incorporate her knowledge of technology to help others.

Sarah M. | Scotts, Michigan

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Vicksburg High School

Within the world of technology and computer science, Sarah’s main focus has been on coding and programming. Sarah competed in the 2011 American Computer Science League Intermediate International Competition. Her team placed first in the United States and second internationally. In addition to this large scale competition, Sarah has also participated in the United States of America Computing Olympiad training programs, the ACSL Classroom contest, and the USACO monthly contests. Sarah has been a girl scout for 12 years and is heavily involved with her schools marching band, all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. Sarah plans to study hardware design in order to compliment all of her growing software knowledge. Ultimately, after receiving her master’s degree, Sarah plans to become a computer engineer.

Sarah S. | Lawrenceville, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology

Ms. Sarah Saltiel is a sophomore at Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology. Outside of school, she enjoys playing and watching sports, working on cars, and hanging out with friends. Sarah’s proudest achievement is her internship as a Quality Assurance Technician at Eclipse Gaming Systems. The person who has been most inspirational for Sarah is her father. He has always encouraged her to follow any dream no matter what the odds of achievement were, and has shown her that the easy route is not always the best route – life is about taking risks.

Sarah hopes to attend the Advanced Academy of Georgia the remainder of her high school career, where she will focus on engineering and computer based courses. She would like to attend Tufts University and major in mechanical engineering.

Savannah L. | Hillsboro, Oregon

2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
Hillsboro High School

Savannah’s greatest influences for pursuing engineering are her parents and her tech teacher Mr. Domes. Savannah’s parents have been very supportive. She would like to thank Mr. Domes for opening the field of engineering; without his classes she probably would not still be in robotics today. Her greatest technology achievement was in 7th grade when her FLL team won the Rookie award that allowed her team to go to state even though it was difficult being the only girl. She knew after that experience that robotics was what she wanted to do.

Savannah would like to attend MIT after high school. She is unsure of what field of study, possibly biomedical engineering. She wants to make a difference in the world and she knows that she can in engineering.

Saylor G. | Highlands Ranch, Colorado

2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Rock Canyon High School

Ms. Gilbert has attended three high schools in three years, moving from Illinois to Nevada to Colorado. Saylor designed the winning state T-shirt for the Colorado Technology Student Association for the 2012 national conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Saylor serves as both secretary and treasurer for TSA at Rock Canyon High School and serves as the junior representative on the Principal’s Student Advisory Committee. Saylor is also active in athletics and swims with her high school and the Colorado Athletic Club; she was Colorado Academic All State First Team and Nevada Academic All State; and has lettered in band, swimming, ROTC drill team, and volunteering. Saylor earned the Girl Scouts of America Gold Award as well as the Colorado District Honor Award in Business Ethics at the Future Business Leaders of America. Saylor plans on attending the 2012 USAFA Summer Seminar and aspires to become an engineer in the United States military.

Serena B. | Memphis, Tennessee

2011 National Award Winner
White Station High School

Serena’s primary interests lie in discrete programming. She enjoys working with artificial intelligence, and while she’s applied that knowledge to robotics, she’s most interested in its application for game creation. Serena is creating a program that extends artificial intelligence to a game of tic-tac-toe, across five instead of three squares. She’s prepared initial code for the program plans to develop it in the future. Serena built her own desktop computer from raw parts, enjoying the ability to tailor it to her style and needs. She works on building bicycles and cars, and is known in her community as the “IT girl,” who is frequently tasked with fixing computers and networks for friends and neighbors. When she discovered computers in her school library labeled “not working,” she set up a lab and restored all twelve back to functioning.

Serena is taking three college-level computer science courses: AP Computer Science, Dual Enrollment Advanced Programming II, and Dual Enrollment Multimedia II. Serena plans a double major in math and computer science. After college, she wants to work for a software company and do her own freelance computer work.

Seyvona F. | Hackensack, New Jersey

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Winner
Bergen County Academies

Seyvona’s greatest computer accomplishment has been creating websites. She was first inspired by her dad who helped to spark her curiosity in computers by showing her how they operated and the endless possibilities of what computers could do. She was able to pursue her interest in computer science through her coursework in high school. She attributes her growing interest in computer science to her coursework in computer programming.

Seyvona aspires to attend college in Pennsylvania, preferably Penn State University. She would like to major in graphic design. Seyvona is interested in working behind the scenes on movies or television shows. 

Shakira G. | Seat Pleasan, Maryland

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Fairmont Heights High School

Shakira Graves is a junior at Fairmont Heights High School. She has created five apps for Andriod Smartphones. The first app helps little children learn and become familiar with their body parts, the second and third apps she made were "Test App" that implemented all the different components of App Inventor. The fourth app she created with the help of the other females of Youth APPLab was "Girl Crew." Girl Crew is an app designed for girls where they can learn about the best books, receive homework help, and depending on grade levels, play games, learn about getting fit and active, and prepare or college. The fifth app she has begun creating is "Proper Dinner Etiquette”. She plans to continue creating apps while in college, where she wants to study Forensic Psychology and is considering adding Business and Computer Programming.

Shannon B. | North Brunswick, New Jersey

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Winner
North Brunswick Township High School

Shannon has been fascinated with computers and technology since her dad introduced her at the age of four. Her interest peaked when she joined the robotics team in high school and during the summer of 2010 she attended the George Washington University Robotics camp where she had the opportunity to visit NIST and learn about the work being done in security as well as partnering with a fellow student to construct a pair of robots who could sing by translating each pitch into a number. This technical achievement combines two of Shannon’s passions: computer programming and music theory.

Upon graduation, Shannon will attend the University of Rhode Island where she plans a double major in Computer Science with a minor in Digital Forensics and Music. In the future, Shannon hopes to be able to work abroad in France, and pursue a career in computer security, while helping to develop software for the Ubuntu community.

Shannon W. | Corvallis, Oregon

2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner
Corvallis High School

Shannon's older sister Jamie has had the greatest influence on her, and it was Jamie who first encouraged Shannon to enroll in the school’s computer science class. What Shannon enjoys about computers and technology is their potential to create anything, even whole virtual worlds. The technological accomplishment that she takes the most pride in is when she programmed the winning robot for the 2010 FIRST Oregon Regional Competition, especially the reliable autonomous mode.

Shannon would like to earn my BS in Computer Science with an emphasis in mathematics and artificial intelligence. She would then like to continue onto graduate school to research advances in these areas.

Shanthi S. | Issaquah, Washington

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart

Shanthi has been interested in the critical thinking and logical aspects of computing ever since she first programmed Pascal in sixth grade. Shanthi is also a research intern at the University of Washington’s Genetic Engineered Materials Science & Engineering Center where she is focusing on the relationships between organic and inorganic materials. This internship has given Shanthi an opportunity to see the relationship between technology and science first hand. Shanthi is currently working on developing a program that will help teenagers make decisions more efficiently and accurately through the use of algorithms. In the future Shanthi hopes to make significant contributions to the fields of computing and science. 

Shaquera D. | Baltimore, Maryland

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School

For years, Shaquera has been interested in programming and this has led her to become the lead programmer of her school’s robotics team. As lead programmer, she has to teach new members how to code and program and also inform parents, teachers, and younger students about their robot and program. Due to Shaquera’s coding, her team’s robot made it to the finals of the Battle of Baltimore Competition. As well as participating on the robotics team, Shaquera is also a co-captain of her school’s debate team. Here also, she must teach younger students about debate and organize the club meetings. Shaquera is also the leader of an organization, Building Steps, where she has held many of the same responsibilities. In the future, Shaquera hopes to attend Johns Hopkins University and major in Computer Science. 

Shelby W. | Trinity, Florida

2010 Florida Affiliate Award Winner
James W. Mitchell High School

Working with the school yearbook has allowed Shelby to explore her interests in page layout, design and photography. While working with the yearbook she has learned programs including Photoshop and Adobe InDesign. Shelby is a member of the National Honor Society, the Interact Club, captains both the soccer and cross-country teams at her school, and is a Special Olympics coach. She is the winner of the Wendy’s High School Heisman, Prudential Spirit of the Community Award, and the President’s Volunteer Award.

Shelby enjoys being able to assist teachers and fellow students whenever they are experiencing trouble with any type of technology system.

Sherry W. | Elmwood Park, New Jersey

2010 National Award Winner
Vocational & Technical High - Hackensack

Sherry loves algorithms because they are used so frequently in our everyday lives; they have drawn her to high performance computing. One of her many noteworthy successes is placing 30,000th out of more than one million entries in the Stanford Folding at Home contest. This contest is a bioformatics distributed computing project that tries to perform computationally-intensive simulations of protein folding and other molecular dynamics. She also has been involved in an internship with AltLaw legal search engine.

At school Sherry has been an inspiration to her fellow students by starting the school’s computer team and by being named the school’s ACSL (American Computer Science League) all-star team captain.

Shivani C. | Highlands Ranch, Colorado

2012 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner, 2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Rock Canyon High School

Shivani Chauhan a sophomore, is quite passionate about the relationship between technology and the environment. She sees the study of robotics as a way for her to channel her creativity and technical knowledge to better the world. Ms. Chauhan sees the potential integration between technology and medicine and seeks out avenues to explore that. Her maturity has helped her to be conscious of the environment and she understands that although she is passionate about robotics and technology, it is necessary to be mindful of the environment, while seeking innovative solutions. Shivani also understands what it takes to be a good leader, including respecting her peers when working in groups, such as the Future Business Leaders of America, the National Junior Honor Society, Destination Imagination and of course, her family.

Shuzhen L. | Charlotte, North Carolina

2011 North Carolina Affiliate Award Winner
New Technology at Garinger High School

Shuzhen was inspired during her Electronic Art class, where she learned to create animations. When Shuzhen is ready for college, she would like to study Chemical Engineering. She finds calculating chemicals to be fascinating, and wants to apply this knowledge to creating useful human tools.

Sierra K. | La Canada, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
La Canada High School

Beginning in fifth grade, while on the school playground, Sierra knew she wanted to be a programmer. Neopets is what had caught her eye and after teaching herself how to code and the basics of web programming Sierra sent in a resume to Neopets. When she was not hired she decided to make her own virtual game called Ecotopians. All of her hard work paid off when Agoge, Inc. gave her a job offer as PHP Programmer.  Other websites Sierra has created include Throwpile.com and Scollab.com. Sierra is currently focused on a new web application. Not only is Sierra holding a job as a paid programmer, is her high school’s Student Body President, but she is also president of her Academic Decathlon team and school’s Science and Red Cross clubs. With plans to study computer science and receiver her master’s degree Sierra hopes to work for a top-notch company that equates the prominence of Google or Facebook.

Sierra L. | Woodside, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up
The Harker School

Sierra has competed in many robotics competitions and has even gone to the VEX Robotics National Championships. She was the lead programmer for her all-girl robotics team and did all the programming in C and the majority of the design and build. Her team won first in Regionals, but her teammates had to many commitments to continue, so Sierra continued on by herself and won first place in the Programming Skills Challenge and first place in the Driver Skills challenge. She also attended a summer camp focused on number theory and cryptography which further developed her desire to learn computer science. She hopes to pursue a career in computer science, mechanical engineering, or electrical engineering and plans on getting a Ph.D in her field of research. 

Sky A. | Santa Barbara, California

2009 National Award Winner
Dos Pueblos High School

In high school, Sky had taken numerous computer science courses, including a course in engineering robotics. She created digital art and designs for marketing materials and performed SolidWorks computer aided mechanical design. She has a special interest in scientific applications programming and in the visual aspect of computer technology. She was involved in a club called Kids Speaking Up at her high school.

Sky is attending Brown University and is planning to graduate with a degree in Computer Science.

Smita S. | Worcester, Massachusetts

2011 Massachusetts Affiliate Award Winner
MA Academy for Math and Science

Smita greatest technical achievement was her participation in FIRST Robotics through Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Team 190, which built several robots for national competitions. She learned about assembly and programming of robots through this team. She is interested in Scheme programming and successfully programmed a conceptual physics game. She has participated in short-answer American Computer Science League competitions which helped her understanding of computer processes.

In the future, Smita sees herself as a computational biology major working to make a difference in people's lives. 

Sneha S. | Westborough, Massachusetts

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Westborough High School

Inspired by her mother who is a computer engineer, Sneha began discovering computer science and programming in the seventh grade. However, now five years later, she has come much further than simply creating websites and blogs. One her Sneha’s greatest accomplishments was applying her knowledge to research projects such as finding what genes were over expressed in skin cancer and what other cancers those genes were also prevalent in. Throughout her time in computer science classes, Sneha has become used to be one of only a few girls and looks at this as a true challenge to take on. Sneha is most interested in being able to design robots and technology to help in the biomedical field. With aspirations of being a doctor, she hopes to combine her computer science passion with her need to help in the medical world.

Sruti M. | Folsom, California

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 Northern California Affiliate Award Winner
Mira Loma High School

Sruti’s interest in computing has been most supported and influenced by her parents and her grandparents.  She and her father have actually built several desktop computers together from scratch. Her passion for computing led her to become a part of a FIRST Lego League robotics team which increased her interest in the field. In recent years Sruti has been working on projects that focus on optimizing battery life for mobile devices. She was also able to attend a research internship at Boston University in an Electrical & Computer Engineering lab. The accomplishment that she is most proud of is the fact that she is able to use her skills to teach others about computing and that she has the potential to instill the same passion for computing that she has within others. Sruti hopes to spread knowledge about the exciting field of computing, especially amongst children, as she believes that many children would benefit greatly from experiencing some of the things that she was fortunate enough to experience.

Stephanie K. | St. Louis, Missouri

2010 National Award Winner
Villa Duchesne Oak Hill School

Through AP Computer Science, Stephanie learned Java and discovered how the possibilities of computer science apply to her lifelong dream of working as an aerospace engineer in a space program. She attended Murray State University’s Cyber Cave Academy where she enjoyed the culminating project, creating a podcast that explained in a witty and fun way the complicated topic of transporting information over the Internet.

Stephanie devotes time to her school’s technology needs through the Tech Leadership Team. Beyond her own school, Stephanie started mathSTRONG for fourth graders at another local school, a program whose purpose is to encourage younger girls to enjoy and understand math.

Stephanie M. | Brooklyn, New York

2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Fontbonne Hall Academy

Stephanie is most interested in designing and building websites. She has built websites using Dreamweaver and NVU, and has helped her uncle develop his online store. Stephanie also uses her technical skills in her part time job at a dentist’s office.

Stephanie would like to attend college and study Biological and Biomedical Sciences.

Stephanie L. | Houston, Texas

2011 Houston Affiliate Award Winner
Cy-Fair High School

Stephanie has had a love for computing for as long as she can remember and her biggest influence is her father, a computer scientist, who encourages her to pursue her dreams. When she was in 8th grade, Stephanie put together an entire computer all on her own. Although this is impressive, Stephanie is most proud of the fact that she has also designed 3 software programs on her own. These programs had various functions from helping her to organize her homework and class assignments, to helping her keep track of how much time she spent working out each week. One of her dreams is to graduate from the University of Texas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. Stephanie plays the flute in the band, is active at her church, and is the vice president of her computer science club at school.

Stephanie D. | Wilson, North Carolina

2011 North Carolina Affiliate Award Winner
Ralph L. Fike High School

Stephanie, a certified Microsoft Specialist, gives credit to her technical education teachers for inspiring her to pursue technology. Stephanie hopes that Lenoir-Rhyne University has a bowling team, where she will be double majoring in Information Technology and Business Management in the fall of 2011.

Stephanie B. | Watsonville, California

2012 National Award Winner, 2011 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 Bay Area Affiliate Award Winner, 2010 Bay Area Affiliate Award Runner-Up
Watsonville High School

Stephanie has been interested in computer science since she was eight years old, initially inspired by her uncle who is a software engineer. She has been a part of a local organization called the Watsonville Technology Education Community (TEC) since she was eleven years old, and is currently part of the teaching division of Watsonville TEC. As part of TEC Teach, she teaches computer skills to children in her community to make computing accessible for all children. Through Watsonville TEC, she also was a part of the Girl Game Company where she learned how to design her own computer games using programs like Stagecast Creator and Alice. Stephanie participated in the University of California Technology Leadership Institute at UC Santa Cruz during the summer of 2011. She aspires to attend a top university and hopes to pursue a career in Bio-Engineering and eventually go to medical school. She hopes to one day be able to combine her interests of Biology and Engineering in order to benefit society.

Stephanie D. | Albuquerque, New Mexico

2012 National Award Winner
La Cueva High School

Since Stephanie discovered the true potential of computers in middle school, she has been determined to make computer science part of her life. Stephanie is the president and founder of her school’s Supercomputing Challenge Club, and the vice president of the Science Bowl Club. She has taken part in the New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge three times as well as competing in Science Bowls and a Science Olympiad. Her team placed 2nd and 3rd in the Supercomputing Challenge the last two years. Her projects include researching optimization algorithms and solving optimization problems in complex network analyses. Stephanie had the honor of presenting a poster at the New Mexico Celebration of Women in Computing. She hopes to study computer science and biology during college in order to research developing efficient algorithms for solving complex computational problems, and also to model complex systems and networks in nature, communication, and computing.

Stephanie S. | Fayetteville, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up
Lovejoy High School

Stephanie likes to use her computer skills to pursue her passion with music and create movies. She has used Finale and Audacity to edit and arrange songs for her performances at events such as her county’s Culture Night Showcase. This year, she created a production that will showcase the many modern musical compositions around the world. She also uses Windows Movie Maker to edit movies she has created with friends. Her movies are generally about spreading awareness of the effects of bullying, the importance of the Constitution, and the harmful effects of E-Waste. Her interest in Computer Science evolved this summer when she had the privilege to help pilot a Computing Club at Georgia Tech’s College of Computing. Stephanie aspires to broaden her knowledge in computing in order to become a successful contributor to society.

Stephanie S. | Roswell, Georgia

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2012 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Centennial High School

Stephanie is a newcomer to the field of computing, but she loves her experience so far. She has taken all of the programming courses that are offered at her school, and this year she had the honor of becoming the president of her school’s programming club. She hopes to inspire others to take an interest in computing and to show them that computing has many fun and exciting aspects and opportunities, contrary to popular belief. Stephanie hopes to attend Carnegie Mellon to obtain a degree in computer science. The knowledge that Stephanie has gained regarding computing and programming has helped her to become a much more rational thinker and a better problem solver, so she plans to continue to integrate aspects of computing into her everyday life. 

Subhashini C. | Edison, New Jersey

2012 National Award Runner-Up, 2011 New York Tri State Affiliate Award Winner
Middlesex County Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Technologies

Subhashini’s dad, a software engineer, inspired her to become interested in Computer Science. Her greatest technical accomplishment has been a C++ program that modeled Guitar Hero. This version was called Banjo Hero and it had a lot of attributes such as login capability, high scores and choosing which song to play with.

Subhashini's future plans are to go to college and major in Biomedical Engineering, which will combine a love for medicine, biology and engineering. Right now, she is interested in both robotics and medicine, so by becoming a biomedical engineer, she would be working with robots that perform surgeries better than humans.

Susan D. | Camilla, Georgia

2012 Georgia Affiliate Award Winner
Westwood Schools

Ms. Susan Davis is a sophomore at Westwood Schools. When she’s not cheering at football and basketball games or doing homework, Susan enjoys hanging out with friends and family, shopping, talking on the phone, and watching movies. The award she is proudest of is for having the highest academic average in her freshman class last year. She is also proud of receiving third place for her Flat Classroom Project video in the fall/winter 2011 challenge for her section of Government, Politics, and Employment in the Virtual World. Susan recognizes Suzanne Collins as being most inspirational for her because not only is she a creative writer, who’s published a major best seller, but also because she always remains true to herself.

While she isn’t sure of her college plans just yet, Susan plans to continue to excel in her computing classes and graduate from high school with honors.

Susanna B. | Muncie, Indiana

2011 Indiana Affiliate Award Winner
The Indiana Academy

Since middle school, Susanna has taught herself, HTML, SCC, and some basic PHP and MySQL. For three years, she has been using Linux as her primary operating system and she very much admires the open source movement and all of the great programs that come out of it.  Up until now, she has not considered herself qualified enough to contribute significantly to an open source project, but she would certainly like to do so in the future.

Susanna intends to study computer science and mathematics in college.

Symaj D. | Boston, Massachusetts

2008 National Award Winner
Cambridge Rindge and Latin

Symaj demonstrates her skills in technology by performing basic networking, installing software, troubleshooting and refurbishing computers. She is enrolled in her high school’s three year course of study in Information Technology, which prepares students for careers in IT.

Symaj is also involved with various computer-related community service projects, such as the Digital Divide Project, which provides refurbished computers to residents of Cambridge Housing. She plans on attending a 4-year college to study IT.

Tanya P. | Boulder, Colorado

2011 National Award Winner
Fairview High School

Tanya's favorite application of computing so far has been analyzing satellite data including Earth-based observations from the DigitalGlobe satellite QuickBird and space-based observations from the NASA satellite telescopes Spitzer and GALEX. She’s worked with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory to analyze data from space telescopes, and the results of this project may allow a better understanding of the function of black holes in the centers of galaxies.

Tanya builds 3D models of solid objects using the open-source 3D graphics application, Blender, and has found this application useful in her creation of short documentary-style films. Tanya plans to study computer software engineering and database management.

Tanya S. | Longmont, Colorado

2011 Colorado Affiliate Award Winner
Skyline High School

Tanya is interested in sustainable energy and biomedical engineering as it pertains to increasing the capabilities and quality of life of people with disabilities. She has built a prosthetic hand with a team of other students, designed websites, and created games using GameMaker6. As a member of the National Honor Society, she does community service projects and donates blood. She is ranked first in her class, and plays on the varsity soccer team.

One of Tanya's proudest accomplishments is building a device out of basic materials to help a special needs elementary school student drink out of a water fountain without assistance.