By Mariam Jalloh
Trendsetter Team
At 8:20 a.m. Monday morning, we got off the DART Bus at the St. Paul Station, beginning our 13-minute trek to the downtown high rise building that was to be our classroom for the next two weeks.
That’s right.
While our peers were jetsetting in Europe and sleeping in on hot summer days, we were embarking on unfamiliar territory: an opportunity to learn about computer science through the lens of an underrepresented community in STEM.
The program is called Kode with Klossy; created by model, activist, and entrepreneur Karlie Kloss. After attending a coding class on a whim back in 2016, Kloss decided to launch summer camps to address the gap in access, opportunity, and equity within the field of technology. Kode with Klossy was born.
With in-person camps taking place in over 20 cities and many more virtual camps, Kode with Klossy aims for students to show off what they learned in a culminating group project to be presented on the last day of the camp. The Dallas in-person
session I attended was from June 20 to June 30, and it was a definite success.
“From the classmates to instructors, the community was very positive and patient,” Jennifer Nguyen said. “I also really loved working with my team to create our project. Although we were overwhelmed and lost at times, seeing the website come together made it all pay off.”
Nguyen, an incoming junior at Sachse High School, found out about the program on Tik-Tok. Since the application process was simple, she gave it a try to get out of her comfort zone. But she wasn’t expecting what she found.
“Before KWK, I never realized how marginalized women were in STEM,” Nguyen said. “I knew there were less women than men working in the industry, but this camp opened my eyes on how significant the gender divide was.”
Kode with Klossy is a camp exclusively available for people who identify as women, gender nonconforming, or trans; ranging from ages 13 to 18.
According to estimates, 78% of those who attended Kode with Klossy camps pursued majors or minors in computer science.
Compare that to what the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics found: only 20 percent of computer science and 22 percent of engineering undergraduate degrees in the U.S. go to women.
Consequently, in 2020, the computer science workforce was 3 percent Black women, 2 percent Hispanic women and 7 percent Asian women, based on the National Center for Women & Information Technology’s findings.
“Going into the camp I did not know how to code,” Heather Waters said. “However as the class went on I felt confident in my coding. I gained the ability to create the website I was envisioning. Kode With Klossy has made me feel confident that I can pursue STEM.”
A rising senior at Plano East High School, Waters saw the program as a free trial to see if she wanted to pursue a career in coding. Her older sister was a Kode with Klossy alumni and had positive reviews.
Using newfound knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript her favorite – Waters and her group created a website called Blossom Self Growth.
“The site focuses on mental health, and helping people grow into their best selves,” Waters said. “I was interested in making a website for mental health because I know a lot of people who have struggled with mental health, including my own sister.”
Samantham Lam, an incoming junior at Marcus High School, also created a website with content teens can apply in their lifestyles.
“My group’s website, Versa-Style, was to inform and share alternatives to fast fashion and unsustainable beauty,” Lam said. “For example, we provide a way to give away clothes instead of them ending up in the landfills. With beauty, we provided brands that are more sustainable and even a quiz to help find your specific skin type and the best sustainable products for it.”
Not only were the group projects a good way to put what they’d learned into practice, but working amongst peers also gave the scholars a chance to mingle and make friends.
“My favorite experience in the camp was getting to know everyone else in the camp,” Lam said. “Over the past two weeks I felt really connected with everyone and made the camp an even better experience for me. Having so many supportive instructors and peers made me realize that STEM is an actual route I can take with my life.”
For any girls, gender nonconforming, and trans teenagers bored during the summer or seeking something new, Kode with Klossy might just be that sweet spot for both a fun and enriching two weeks.
Here’s some advice from a recent scholar to you:
“When you’re at Kode with Klossy, be sure to take it all in and enjoy the moment,” Nguyen said. “It’s not often that you’ll be surrounded by so many driven and powerful young women.”
Mariam Jalloh is a Scripps Howard Foundation Emerging Journalists Intern with Texas Metro News through the University of North Texas.
