Cyber Ninja Summer Camp visits Vox Media

Last week Vox Product hosted nearly 30 impressive young women from a Girls Inc. summer camp. They toured the Vox Media DC office and bombarded a panel of Vox Media employees—including front-end engineers Ally Palanzi and Guillermo Esteves, designer Ramla Mahmood, front-end designer Alisha Ramos, SB Nation social media editor Michael Katz, and Vox engagement editor Allison Rockey—with tough, thoughtful questions about their day-to-day experiences in the fields of technology and media.

Alisha in particular was excited to see such young people learning to code:

"As someone who started delving into code from an early age, I know how important it is to instill curiosity and inspiration in young people. Given the gender imbalance in our industry, girls especially need role models to look up to. They need to realize that they, too, can be programmers, designers, coders. I loved having Girl Inc. visit our office and get a real-world taste of women working in tech. There was a broad age range represented, which was exciting, and they were enthusiastic with their questions. I really hope they all decide to work in tech in the future (and maybe at Vox!)"

And here's what Krysta Cox, Vice President of Women's Society of Cyberjutsu & Cyberjutsu Girls Academy, had to say about the camp and their visit:

"The Cyber Ninja Summer Camp is a fun-filled experience to build confidence and empower girls by teaching them computer tech skills. In the six weeks of camp, girls will learn the hardware components of a computer, the basics of cybersecurity and online safety practices, how to design and build websites, coding games in python, developing mobile applications, and host their very own fashion show of wearable tech projects! Visiting Vox was a great experience for the girls to learn what it would be like to be a professional in the technology world. They are very excited to learn how to make their worlds a better place!"

The program is hosted by Girls Inc and curriculum is provided by Cyberjutsu Girls Academy, a program of the Women's Society of Cyberjutsu — a start-up non profit in the Washington DC area. Help us spread the word about this really cool program! Learn more about the Academy and how you can also host the Cyber Ninjas here. And if you know someone who should sign up, camp registration is here.