Changing the odds this #CSEdWeek

Today, I was privileged to co-host Code.org’s annual Computer Science Education Week kick-off event to advocate for access to computer science and STEM education for all.

As a student of math and science, Code.org’s mission is deeply personal for me. I studied engineering and learned to code in college. My very first job was as a coder. Computer science is the foundation of my career and, in many ways, my life.

But that almost wasn’t the case.

For me – and for too many young women, young people of color, young people in underfunded schools, young people period – the overriding factor on the path to a STEM career was luck.

I grew up in a big family – I’m the 14th of 15 kids. And like most younger siblings, I followed in the footsteps of my older brothers and sisters, which meant majoring in business. It was practical. It was what I knew.

I got a job on campus to help pay for school, and eventually found myself making a delivery to the engineering department – a place I’d never stepped foot in. After a few wrong turns, I struck up a conversation with two of the department’s executive assistants to ask for directions.

The thing is, they didn’t realize I was just there to deliver mail. They thought I was there to enroll in engineering. What I didn’t know was that they had just been discussing how to recruit more women into the program, and there I was!

So they sat me down and asked me about myself. What was I studying? What did I want to do? Did I enjoy math and science? Did I like solving problems? Had I ever considered engineering? And if not, why not?

The truth was that I loved math and I loved science. I took two years of calculus in high school, and nearly every science class my school offered. But nobody had ever taken the time to encourage me in that direction. Nobody had asked me those questions. Nobody had brought the opportunities of STEM to life.

That short conversation had a profound impact on my life. I switched my major to an engineering track the next day and never looked back, graduating with a degree in electrical engineering – and plenty of coding skills – in a class that was only about 10% women. If not for a lucky wrong turn, I most certainly wouldn’t have been one of them.

Computer science has changed my life since then. But the numbers haven’t changed enough. Today less than 20% of computer science majors in college are women. And what’s worse, only .4% of teen girls say they plan to study computer science.

But in computer science, luck isn’t a variable we use. We believe in data, probability and odds. And we always have the power to change the odds. That’s why this week is so important. That’s why this work is so important.

Every day this week, teachers will change the odds by introducing kids to an Hour of Code, showing them that computers science is as much about creativity and passion as the arts. Schools and districts change the odds when they scrape together funds to support the staff who get in early, stay late, and pay out of their own pockets to help make technology a part of their students’ lives. And each one of us can change the odds by asking a kid a simple question – have you ever considered coding, or engineering? Like those two strangers did for me.

That’s what CS Ed Week is about – leveling the playing field by bringing computer science to every student, in every school.

It’s why Microsoft became a founding partner and the largest single donor in Code.org. It’s why, since 2009, Microsoft’s Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS) has worked to help high schools throughout the US build and grow sustainable computer science programs. And it’s why Microsoft Philanthropies has partnered with 4-H, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Girls Who Code, and countless other organizations working to develop young leaders, help them build new digital skills, and inspire them to consider the possibilities computer science can offer.

This CS Ed Week, I’m honored to work alongside these dedicated organizations who share a vision that all students ought to have the opportunity to learn coding in school, and everyone deserves a chance to change the world with the miracle of computer science. No matter where she was born, who her parents are, or what hallway she happens to walk down delivering mail.