While I was working for GlowTouch Technologies, I was given the opportunity to mentor minority high school girls in computer science and entrepreneurship. This was my first formal mentoring role and I was honored to have it. At the start of the Empowered 7-week program, I introduced the students to HTML and CSS through a learning program called TreeHouse. I served as a resources as well as a supplemental instructor to TreeHouse. Once they finished the basic HTML and CSS courses in TreeHouse, I helped them start making their own personal websites. Their development of their personal websites dictated the first 3 weeks of the program. Once they had made large steps in learning the basics of website development, I moved them to WordPress. I decided to teach them WordPress as they were given a task by a local school district: remake their foundation website. This task was a very large task to them, but after 4 weeks of working in WordPress and learning basic JavaScript, they were able to present their creations to the foundation board.
Along with teaching them website development, I helped develop their soft skills, like presentations and communication. Weekly, I would meet with each individual girl and informally interview them on what they had accomplished and what they were working towards. Not only did I see improvement in their responses, but also I noticed that each girl had become significantly more confident in her work as well as her presentation. Their poise had greatly improved from when they started the program.
This opportunity was one of a kind and I am grateful for it. If you would like to see their work, please go to the Empowered website.