It was 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 28, 15 minutes after the set start time, when it was clear no one would be attending the Women in Computing meeting. Nicole Ito, 25, planned the meeting with the hopes to bring together fellow female IT students and any women interested in computing.
“I noticed that there is a lack of support for us on campus,” Ito said. I wanted to get the students together so they can have a voice.”
Earlier in October Ito attended the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference held in Minnesota, where she got the inspiration to start a group here at KapCC. She said, “At the conference I learned that simple support groups can have a big impact.”
Ito who is graduating next year hopes only to bring the girls together. The groups first meeting was to establish what type of action the female IT students wanted to take.
“This is about them. We could just become a social group or we can create a club. It’s whatever they want,” she said.
When asked what she hoped for the group she explained, “I want to give them a place they where they can connect and learn from each other. There is a small amount of female students in IT. In most of my classes there is about 20 students and there are typically only two to three other girls.”
Ito’s statement is expressed throughout across the nation. Written in an article published by The New York Times, “I Am Woman, Watch Me Hack”, it is stated, “Today, just a quarter of all Americans in computer-related occupations are women.”
Still optimistic, Ito will be holding a second meeting at Kopiko 126 on November 4 at 12:15 p.m.