‘Superwomen’ app wins YWCA contest

THE WINNING team that created the Superwomen app, back row, from left to right: Ayanna Rowe, Beyanca Guilme, Madel Cabreja, Carmen Garcia, and front row, left to right: Marlaina MacDonald, Katrina Waldmanwerth, Kuhu Badgi and Ernesha Frenzen. / PHOTO COURTESY YWCA OF RHODE ISLAND
THE WINNING team that created the Superwomen app, back row, from left to right: Ayanna Rowe, Beyanca Guilme, Madel Cabreja, Carmen Garcia, and front row, left to right: Marlaina MacDonald, Katrina Waldmanwerth, Kuhu Badgi and Ernesha Frenzen. / PHOTO COURTESY YWCA OF RHODE ISLAND

SMITHFIELD – An app called “Superwomen” won the YWCA Rhode Island’s Fantastic Girltastic Code Company App Challenge this past weekend.
Twenty-seven girls in grades two through eight participated in the challenge, conducted in partnership with Bryant University and Amica Insurance. The event was held April 2 at Bryant.
In addition, 27 adults volunteered, providing feedback and expertise to the girls throughout the day, according to Deborah L. Perry, president and CEO of YWCA of Rhode Island, which runs the Fantastic Girltastic Code Company, a program to promote computer science learning among girls.
The winning team featured eight girls, seven of whom are from the Paul Cuffee School in Providence: Ayanna Rowe, Beyanca Guilme, Madel Cabreja, Carmen Garcia, Marlaina MacDonald, Katrina Waldmanwerth and Ernesha Frenzen. The eighth member, Kuhu Badgi, is from Sharon, Mass.
Their “superwomen” app allows users to design their own superwoman and also includes information about different superwomen in real life that prove stereotypes wrong as well as information about women’s history, and women in their community and throughout the world. Motivational quotes and quizzes also were featured in the prototype.
Perry said this was the first app challenge that the YWCA of Rhode Island held. She said the daylong event included activities to help girls think creatively and solve problems.
“App challenges are used as a gateway to expose girls to computer science and coding … The day culminated with the teams making presentations to a panel of industry judges who have experience with app development, Web design or computer science,” she explained.
Meghan Grady, YWCA chief operating officer, said the app challenge helps make computer science “relevant, cool and exciting to local girls.”
The National Center for Women & Information Technology estimates that there will be 1.1 million computing-related job openings in the United States by 2024, Grady said. She said by connecting girls to coding instruction, local female role models, colleges and universities, and industry leaders, they will be equipped to pursue careers in computer sciences.
Perry, who came up with the idea for the app challenge, said YWCA Rhode Island will host quarterly Fantastic Girltastic Code Company events. The recent app challenge cost $4,000 to produce and was made possible with funds raised through crowdsourcing by Bryant University students as well as in-kind support from Amica and Bryant, and funding from YWCA Rhode Island.
She said they are in the process of seeking sponsors for future events. She said they also are developing space in Providence that will include “maker space” to expose girls to technology and trade opportunities after school.
“Rhode Islanders must cultivate the knowledge-driven, entrepreneurial sectors of our economy and we must get girls into this pipeline. To do so, we will have to greatly increase the number of women holding college degrees in computer sciences. The Fantastic Girltastic Code Company is dedicated to demystifying code through intensive girl-centric training,” Perry said.

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