Mentor Diary: 100 Girls Learn to Program in Brussels by Sandy Bernaerts

On 31st of January we organised a special “CoderDojo 4 Divas” event for girls between 7 and 14 years old. About 100 girls from all over Belgium were present on Saturday morning at Euroclear in Brussels for our special event. This Dojo was set-up by 2 mentors from CoderDojo Belgium, with a goal to prove that ICT is not just for boys.  For the moment, on average, only 1 in 5 Ninja’s in Belgium are girls.  With this Dojo we hope to attract more girls to come to our mixed Dojos.

We offered the following possible technologies to the girls:
-Scratch
-HTML/CSS
-Lego Mindstorm
-Arduino
We borrowed a 3D printer to show them how that worked.

Sandy Bernaerts (lead coach ‘CoderDojo 4 Divas’ – Project Leader Euroclear):
“Our main aim is that the girls and mentors have a fun day! But I also hope that the girls have the opportunity to find out if they like to code. I look forward to seeing them back at our mixed Dojos.  Programming is about being creative and about a specific way of thinking about problems which I do believe can be useful for the girls in other areas of their lives.  Programming is cool!”

Here is what some of the girls had to say:
Renske(8)
“This is the first time I have come to a Dojo and I think it is really fun! My mom, sister and 2 best friends are here too.  The most fun part was making a sprite follow the mouse on my screen (Scratch)”

Zoe (8)
“The dinosaur that was 3D printed was cool!”

Mara (9)
“I thought it was super fun! At this Dojo it was easier to make new friends. In a mixed Dojo, most of the time there is only one table of girls.  I also enjoyed having a look at other things beside Scratch like the 3D printer.”

Agathe (10)
“It is fun to invent new games!”

Alice (11)
“I made my first website today!”

Congratulations to the mentors from CoderDojo in Brussels for putting together such a fantastic and inspirational Dojo.  CoderDojo would not be possible without all of the amazing Mentors all over the world lending thousands of hours to organising and taking part in these wonderful events.  We really appreciate all of your hard work and look forward to hearing many more stories of success in the future!

Click Here for More Pictures from CoderDojo Belgium

 

You can see our CoderDojo Girls Guide here.