Thirty girls, aged 10 to 12, from three state schools in Malta recently participated in an interactive workshop, Why IT Matters, hosted at the US Embassy in collaboration with the Directorate for Quality & Standards in Education and MissInTech.

MissInTech is an organisation made up of young female IT professionals who are on a mission to change perceptions that IT is solely a male domain.

Students enjoyed a morning of activities, with screenings of the documentary Girls Do Science and the Microsoft 2014 Super Bowl commercial Empowering. The students then worked in groups to build their own Piper Toolkit, an educational mini-computer and develop technical skills and approaches that lead to inventive solutions. The goal of the workshop was to encourage girls to choose Stem subjects at school and pursue careers in Stem. 

Ambassador G. Kathleen Hill gave remarks highlighting the achievements of American computer scientist and US Navy Admiral Grace Hopper. She presented Admiral Hopper as a role model for the students and urged them to embrace her legacy.