Girls Who Code club introduced to CVHS

On Thursdays, portable P5 holds a group of girls huddled around one lab table, each typing away on a computer. All of them working together on a few lines of text creating a much bigger project. Currently, working on their new website, the group works together through any challenges that get brought up. The end result is worth it. CVHS is proud to welcome the new Girls Who Code club.

In the club, members learn different languages of code, how to use them, and even about important women in the STEM field. New members do not need any prior knowledge of code, only a willingness to learn.

“Everyone should try everything. You don’t really know unless you try,” president and founder Rucha Acholkar said. “Computer science, coding especially, teaches you skills that you use outside.”

Acholkar started off last year with one meeting trying to get people involved. They had one meeting to get people interested. They also got people resources for over the summer and had a fundraiser selling spare computer parts.

Acholkar started this year with only one other officer, who left school before the club started. She sent out officer applications to interested members and set up the club day station by herself. This caused a difficulty in spreading the word and getting new members. The club also struggles with people not wanting to join the club for its name.

“It’s surprising that males, even if they want to learn to code, won’t join because Girls Who Code is in the name of the club;” Acholkar stated. Some male students signed up at the end of last school year, but many never showed up to meetings.

When asked why coding is interesting, Acholkar stated “Coding, for me, is like an adventure. You start off, stumble a little bit, and then, slowly learn, and you’re like ‘okay maybe this didn’t work out, but maybe this will.’ Like a winding path. But you get somewhere and you’re like ‘this is where I want to be because I have achieved my goals.’”

For those interested in joining the club, meetings are in portable P5 every other Thursday.