The event was part of a global campaign that is run by Microsoft Philanthropies which aims to give high school girls the opportunity to learn about careers in technology and to connect with local female tech entrepreneurs and professionals in the country to inspire them.
In the event held in Kuwait, we were joined by 16 volunteer students from Kuwait University that supported in delivering exciting computer and technology workshops for the 450+ audience attending from the Ministry of Education to learn about coding with Minecraft, and other activities including Computer Science basics, Binary numbers, Searching and Sorting mechanisms in computing.
To kick off our full day event, the President of GUST, Prof. Walid S. Bouhamra highlighted importance to have more women engaged in STEM, and the opportunities in the workforce in Kuwait to support them. Next, GM of Microsoft Kuwait, Charles Nahas welcomed the high school students from MOE public and private schools highlighting the importance of technology and empowering the young girls to follow their dreams and aspirations to make a difference in this world.
We followed with a panel of three inspiring ladies:
Arwa Aljaser Alghanim, the Founder & CEO of Mukkancom Software Solutions Company. She started her career with a government job and later decided to change her career to become a full stack developer.
Haya Al Mana currently heading Zain’s Innovation Center “ZINC” that entails entrepreneurship, intrepreneurship, tech startup programs, startup acceleration, creativity, innovation and more.
Noora Al Askar a Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist and the founder and CEO of Nutribox App, the Arab World’s first intelligent and interactive healthy living platform that aims to empower the Arab World to live a healthier life.
Next, we delivered an ice-breaker session with all of the girls; We had 20 girls from the audience come one stage to share their dreams, voice their concerns and opinions on how they can continue to pursue their passion in STEM and what companies like Microsoft and the Ministry of Education can do to help evangelize a STEM career and environment where they can be the future leaders in Kuwait.
For the following two hours, the girls joined the volunteers in multiple workshops in smaller groups where they had a chance to learn something new in tech. Volunteers demonstrated how computer apps are being used to help solve real-world challenges!
Here are the links to activities that were delivered in the workshop:
- Minecraft Hour of Code: https://code.org/Minecraft
- CS Unplugged: https://www.csunplugged.org
- Microsoft’s MakeCode & Code Connect Workshops: https://microsoft.sharepoint.com/:f:/r/teams/SPS-gdi/digigirlz/DigiGirlz%20Resources/_FY19%20DigiGirlz%20Resources/Content?csf=1&e=MXRn5w
- AppLab: https://code.org/educate/applab
- CodeCreators with Skype in the Classroom: https://education.microsoft.com/csweek
- Hacking STEM: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/education-workshop/default.aspx
- YouthSpark Resources: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/digital-skills/resources?activetab=resources_categories:primaryr6
This event would not have been possible without the incredible volunteers from KFAS and Kuwait University that helped to inspire these young bright minds!
Shaymaa Al-Terkait 