Mandy Atkins wound her way through the room full of 14 girls staring at computer screens, pausing to answer questions here and there, wearing her pink t-shirt that proudly declared she is a "Girl of Code."
What that means: To her, the jumble of letters and symbols on the projector screen at the front was actually simple HTML codes for designing websites. Atkins and fellow programmers Katy Campen and Coco Bennett were teaching the girls how to create their own.
The girls are part of the 100 Girls of Code tour that took place at Nashville's Entrepreneur Center on Monday morning to help women learn more about careers in computer science. The goal is to reach at least 100 girls in the eight cities on the tour.
The one-day workshops, sponsored by Tennessee Tech University and the business development partnership Launch Tennessee, are geared towards helping girls ages 12 to 18 gain an interest in computer programming, web development, gaming and computer applications.
"The young women we help today will grow up to cure diseases, write computer programs, discover the next technological advances, and ultimately change the world," said Jessica Hill, graphic and web designer at the Entrepreneur Center.