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News
Fifty seven 6th, 7th, and 8th grade girls took part in St. Bonaventure University’s Sixth Annual Girls’ Day 2007 held Saturday, November 3rd. Girls’ Day, which is sponsored by the University’s Computer Science Department and is designed to encourage young women to pursue careers in computer science, gave attendees the chance to participate in hands-on workshops covering topics such as robotics, podcasting, and 3-D programming. Two St. Bonaventure Computer Science alumni made special presentations. Barbara McNally ‘94, principle product manager for America on Line’s Instant Messenger (AIM), gave the girls an insider’s peak at AIM. Barb Snyderman ‘94, who owns the information technology firm BITS LLC in Rochester, introduced them to digital scrapbooking.
The workshops were conducted by computer science students and alumni. Computer Science major Shane Randolph conducted the robot simulation lab; Ann Tenglund, a Bonaventure alumnae and current Coordinator of Library Computer Services & Information Literacy Librarian presented a workshop on podcasting, wikis, and blogs with current computer science major Laura L’Esperance; Ang Colomaio, a current computer science major presented a workshop on Alice, a 3-D programming environment, with computer science alumnae Sharon Woodruff ’83 and Tamara Hemminger, a junior BIS major.
Other CS students contributing to the program included Grace Lewandowski ‘10 and Kristina Austin ‘08, who assisted in the digital scrapbooking workshop, and Grace Trzepacz ‘09. Kimberly Trimboli ’07, J/MC major, assisted Shane Randolph in the robot simulation workshop.
A panel discussion on women in computer science moderated by Ann Tenglund concluded the day. Participating were Angela Colomaio, Dr. Anne Foerst, an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at St. Bonaventure, Snyderman, McNally, and Girls’ Day Director and Assistant Professor of Computer Science at St. Bonaventure Dr. Suzanne Watson. The panel offered insights into careers in information technology and answered questions about their experience from the audience.
“This is the greatest number of Girl’s Day participants we have ever had,” said Watson. “We hope that it leads to more women pursuing careers in information technology in the future.”
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