Not So Weird Wednesday: Girls Who Code Edition

Here at Ayers, we like to point out the weird or funny things people find in their basements. A medieval camel skeleton, a live elk, WWII weaponry - the findings are diverse and unexpected.

And sometimes they’re inspiring.

In a basement in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, every Wednesday you can find a meeting of the Brookview House Girls Who Code Club. It’s the only one of its kind geared at homeless students. BHGWCC was founded by national nonprofit Girls Who Code, which teaches computer skills to girls in hopes of encouraging them that coding isn’t just “a boy thing” and lessening the gender gap in tech fields.

As a woman who spent her teenage years learning HTML so I could make Backstreet Boys fan websites and moderate message boards, and who now spends her days creating digital content about basements, I know how important it is for young girls to be actively taught these skills that they are so often overlooked for. Women historically make up less of the job market and even college major declarations in STEM and technology programs but this is changing thanks to organizations like Girls Who Code.

Many members of the BHGWCC are living below the poverty line with no or unreliable access to computers and the internet, and the club allows them to learn skills that will help them in school and hopefully lead them to explore possible futures in technological careers.

And they do it all in a basement.

To learn more about Girls Who Code, visit their website at http://girlswhocode.com