STUDENT RECEIVES NATIONAL IT for WOMEN AWARD

AMSA is proud to announce that senior Kira Gobes is a recipient of this year’s National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) Award.  Kira has studied computer science at AMSA all seven years and proudly exhibited her passion for the subject. The NCWIT Award is selectively given, as only about 35 out of around 2,300 applicants were nationally granted this award.

 For the past two years, Kira has been working diligently in various computer science courses and programs alongside Ms. Bandaru and Ms. Powers, two high school computer science teachers at AMSA.  Ms. Bandaru and Ms. Powers work together along with others in the department to create computer science opportunities for the students inside and outside the school. This, the teachers’ involvement, inspired Kira to delve into computer science studies. “Their enthusiasm is infectious!” says Kira, and states that she owes everything to AMSA’s computer science department, especially Ms. Bandaru and Ms. Powers.      

Her interest in the computer science field began in her tenth grade year, when she signed up to compete in the Technovation Challenge. The Technovation Challenge presents teams of high school girls with the test of creating an app on AppInventor based on one specific criterion.  What really struck Kira in Technovation was that the computer science field is not all about coding; there is a business side as well as cooperative and creative processes too.

In her junior year, Kira continued to pursue her newfound interest in computer science enrolling in AP Java and volunteering as a mentor for AMSA’s GEMS (Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science) program.  Later that year, she also got an internship with Content Raven, a start-up computer science company. 

Currently, as a senior, Kira is continuing her work with GEMS and acting as Teacher’s Assistant for Ms. Bandaru in AP Java while also taking AMSA’s Game Design class.  Game Design really convinced her to apply as a Computer Science major in college and pursue a career in this field.

Because of her success and motivation in studying computer science, Kira will travel to Charlotte, North Carolina, to be officially presented the NCWIT award.  At this award ceremony, not only will she receive recognition, but Kira will also have the opportunity to connect with past winners and others involved in the field.  The NCWIT award offers Kira connections to internships and scholarships only available to NCWIT winners, which will help her throughout college and in her professional life to pursue a career in Computer Science and/or Game Design.

AMSA is not waiting for the world to change…we are changing the world one student at a time…every day. www.amsacs.org