Spring Newsletter

2018 so far has seen tremendous growth and addition to the LITAS family. With the launch of the LITAS certification program, we saw the addition of three new chapters to the first round of registrations. We now have chapters in BASIS Chandler as well as two schools from India — Oakridge and Brilliance School have registered to be LITAS certified.

We also have a partnership with the The Girl Code, where we will together start several initiatives like hosting workshops in coding, mentorship programs, and competitions in computer science projects. Girl Code members will also use our LITAS e-learning platform to code and share their projects.

Our director, Anvita Gupta organised talks and workshops to aspiring students in schools all over India in order to encourage girls to code and enter STEM fields.

Over 200 girl students and 4 teachers were a part of the workshop conducted at CLDAV, Sector 11 Panchkula, India. Over 98% of the students were interested in becoming LITAS members and learning computer science through our learning platforms!

Another workshop was held at Oakridge International school, Mohali as part of their OakInspireOn talk series. The students were extremely inquisitive and with them becoming a LITAS chapter, we are sure we can inspire and help more girls in grades 6–12 in pursuing computer science.

We are humbled and excited to start a LITAS for Girls chapter for underprivileged high school and college girls in India — many of these girls’ parents make less than $2 a day! Their financial status has not hindered their thirst to learn. We will be providing Skill Development classes to this group through our Computer Science program.

We have also released LITAS Learn, an e-learning platform with several modules on Python, Javascript and Android App Development. Students can now learn at their convenience and connect with their peers as well as get their doubts cleared.

She STEMS, a LITAS chapter has received a grant from the NCWIT (National Center for Women and Information Technology) for their work. Headed by Ashley Chu, they organize camps for girls where the girls are given an opportunity to work on cool STEM projects! The club hopes to reduce the sever under-representation of girls in STEM and help them feel confident and independent to pursue their interests.

We would also like to congratulate Laura Lu, a 11th grader from Xavier College Preparatory for the success of her month-long incubator in CS and STEM for underprivileged girls in Phoenix! She is a LITAS alumni and was a prize winner in the LITAS Tech Showcase. We are proud to have partnered with Phoenix Public Library, Acacia branch for this initiative. The students were taught HTML, CSS and entrepreneurial skills for 2 hours every week in June.

We are really excited to kick off the flagship round of LITAS Certification program with all our new chapters and partnerships with schools in India. We look forward to motivating and supporting enthusiastic girls from around the world in STEM.