Two Illinois teens are making a difference in people’s lives, thanks to inspiration and financial support from a national mentoring program.
Jaiden Fallo, of Chicago, is among 48 young women nationwide awarded ANNpower Grants this year from 2,476 who applied for this year’s ANNpower Vital Voices Initiative. The initiative aims to seek out the next generation of female leaders. Ava Polzin, of Libertyville, was selected last year, but was asked to modify her project, and is getting her grant money this year.
Fallo, 17, is trying to shrink the gender gap in computer science. Polzin, 18, is helping Native American girls learn about music.
Fallo, a senior at Walter Payton College Prep, created FEMcoders, a daylong workshop set to open in spring 2016 focused on teaching and improving women’s coding skills. FEM stands for “Financial Empowerment Mission.”
“Four years ago I was hacked. . . . It felt very violating,” Fallo said. “I knew the only way for me to stop it was to understand how it’s done.”
Women’s involvement in computer science has declined steadily since the 1980s. Just 17 percent of 35,478 computer science degrees earned in the 2010-2011 school year went to women, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Women “have worked hundreds of years to have a voice, and technology is the voice of the future,” she said. “Why would we voluntarily give that up?”
Two years ago, with help from Girls Who Code, a national nonprofit aimed at closing the tech gender gap, Fallo set up a biweekly coding program for girls at her school.
“I was very nervous not many girls would be into it,” she said. “But the school was very supportive and science teachers would put up fliers in their class.”
She brought in 30 girls the first semester.
“It’s something really cool,” said Lizzie Goodrich, a student at Payton. She has attended the workshop since its inception. “I look forward to taking some computer science classes in college.”
Fallo also is designing FEMcoders’ website, which will offer tutorials and information from the workshop.
Polzin, a sophomore at the University of Southern California, focused her efforts on an Oglala Lakota Native American reservation in South Dakota. She persevered through some early missteps.
At 12, Polzin started the Lakota Cultural Exchange Program. She wanted to bring girls from the tribe to Chicago to show them the sights and teach them self-defense. Her first guest was 14.
“It was a disaster,” Polzin said. “The girl was homesick and the empathy just wasn’t there on both ends. I realized pretty quickly I was too young to try this.”
But four years later, she gave it another shot and found success — this time, with music.
With support from ANNpower, Polzin will buy instruments for the reservation. She has planned a kickoff weekend to fly in and distribute the instruments. After that, she will bring in other musicians for occasional workshops. She wants to teach the girls about all aspects of music — not just how to play but also related topics such as copyright law.
“I really want to empower these young girls and teach self-worth,” Polzin said.
ANNpower is funded by Ann Inc., parent company of Ann Taylor and other women’s specialty stores. It selects 50 women every year and provides training and mentorship.
“These young women have the ability to make a serious impact in the lives of people near and far,” said Kay Krill, president and CEO of Ann Inc.
Fallo said her project would not have been possible without the fellowship.
“It’s hard being 17 and having a project you’re passionate about,” she said, “but have people tell you it’s going to be too hard or it’s going to cost too much money.”
