Introducing Future Tech Leaders to Our Region through TechGirls
Over the summer we hosted 21 international high school students with the TechGirls Program with the help of local families, organizations, and businesses. TechGirls is a U.S.-based summer exchange program designed to empower and support young women from the 
United States and select countries around the world to pursue higher education and careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields through hands-on skills development training. The participants were eager to learn more about Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
We started with welcoming students as they arrived by bus from their
three weeks education with Virginia Tech. Our host families arrived with smiles and signs to greet the students. The TechGirls spent four days with local families experiencing everything from local muse
ums, sporting events, outdoor adventures, and of course our culinary delights. A huge thank you to all of our amazing host families!!
The biggest success of the program was the job shadow where the girls experienced a wide variety of tech careers from working outside to learning coding. A tremendous thank you as well to our job shadow sites including iSPACE, Girl Scouts of Kentucky’s Wilderness Road Council, Groundworks ORV, Hamilton County Educational Service Center, Kroger Technology and Digital, 84.51, Last Mile Food Rescue, Thomas More University Biology Field Station!!
When asked what their biggest takeaway was from the Community Immersion program and job shadowing, the girls shared many highlights including:
“That to solve worldwide problems you need to cooperate with many people. “
“American lifestyle, there are many opportunities out there and if you believe in yourself you will make it. There are so many possibilities that I had never even imagined existed.”
“From community immersion, I was able to experience how a close knit and large family structure is like, what their diet is like, which hobbies they carry out, habits etc. From STEM exploration, I learned about how nature affects everything in life, even psychology, as well as ways to improve our global conditions.”
“STEM offers a wide array of diverse fieldsto explore. One significant takeaway from my experience was the abundance of inspiring women at the helm of the workforce.”
“Gained so much knowledge in just a few days. I learnt so many things that are related to biology and culture of the city.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed engaging with IT professionals, learning about their experiences and impressive work. Working with 3D printing was a highlight, but the best moment was witnessing a software developer troubleshoot her code live, just because of a question me and my friend asked her – it was motivating and fun!”
