For Release
Kitt Grant
Director of Communications
STEMBoard
INTech Hosts First Virtual Technology Camp for 120 Teen Girls
Teens will connect virtually with women tech mentors, and receive free LINGO hardware kits
CHARLOTTE, N.C. June 24, 2020 — For over five years, UX designer and computer engineer Khalia Braswell has hosted an annual summer camp for young girls to help them learn technology skills, meet women mentors in the technology industry, and visit companies across the Carolinas. Her nonprofit, INTech, was recently forced to take the camp virtual due to COVID-19. As a result, INTech will be training over 120 teen girls from North Carolina, Texas, California, and other states in a week-long virtual camp that will be held from July 6th-10th and July 20th – July 24th.
INTech targets girls in grades 6th – 12th through summer camps and after school programs, which teaches them how to build software solutions, introduces them to women of color in tech, and allows them to explore tech careers at various companies across the Carolina’s
“I was super nervous when we initially decided to make the pivot to a virtual learning experience. We’ve hosted in-person summer camps on college campuses since 2016 so this was an event that we’ve perfected. With the virtual camp, there were a lot of unknowns like will the students we want to reach have laptops and wifi to participate? Can we provide them with what they need if they don’t? We then decided to open registration up to girls all over the country so now we’ve scaled our impact and will reach girls in over 15 states. The thought of that has excited my entire team,” explained, Braswell, who serves as the executive director of INTech.
Previously a user experience engineer at Apple in Cupertino, California, Braswell helped design enterprise applications, which reached all Apple employees. The quality of the experience matters deeply to Braswell.
Over the course of the five-day camp, students will be able to connect with peers virtually and leave with a portfolio of apps they have created. One of the highlights of this year’s camp is the inclusion of the new LINGO Coding Kit—an instructional hardware skill-building activity.
Created by Aisha Bowe, an African-American aerospace engineer, and founder and CEO of STEMBoard, Bowe developed LINGO to help teens learn the fundamentals of hardware development.
“LINGO is delighted to support INTech in delivering an exceptional virtual experience. The LINGO premise is quite simple: learn engineering and coding principles by building an autonomous vehicle sensor. Students can work at their own pace while learning basic coding and engineering concepts at home in a clear, fun, and engaging way,” said Bowe
LINGO comes complete with step-by-step videos and community support. The kit also includes follow-on materials that complement the highly detailed instructional booklet and inspires continued exploration. LINGO community members also have access to STEM lessons via the LINGO learning portal.
Thanks to the generosity of the INTech board of directors, each camp attendee will receive their own LINGO kit.
“We are extremely excited that our camp scholars will be able to gain coding experience by learning HTML, CSS, and Javascript, in addition to hardware engineering experience through learning C# with LINGO. We’ve wanted to incorporate hardware in our program for a while now so we’re excited to provide an alternative for girls who may want to be more hands-on with technology and engineering,”said Braswell.
For more information about INTech or to make a donation to their program, please visit www.intechcamp.org
For more information about LINGO coding kit, please visit www.stemlingo.com
