Seeley-Swan High School junior Aspen Derry was recognized by the National Center for Women & Information Technology for her aspirations in computing after she submitted a personal website to their annual competition.
SEELEY LAKE - The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), NorthWestern Energy and Carroll College recognized Seeley-Swan High School junior Aspen Derry for their Aspirations in Computing Award. Derry was listed as one of 17 high school women recognized for the award. She will receive a certificate for her achievement.
As part of her online application, Derry submitted a personal website she had developed in fall 2020. She learned her coding skills from her mentor Nora McDougall-Collins who also encouraged her to apply for the award.
Derry said she is particularly interested in the structural and coding aspects of website construction versus the areas centered around graphic design. She is not entirely sure of what career she would like to pursue in the future but she is open to the idea of doing website repairs.
According to https://www.aspirations.org, the award honors ninth through 12th grade students who self-identify as women, genderqueer or non-binary for their computing-related achievements and interests. It is meant to encourage participants to pursue their passions. Recipients are selected based on their aptitude and aspirations in technology and computing, as demonstrated by their computing experience, computing-related activities, leadership experience, ambition and plans for post-secondary education.
Derry was "quite surprised" when she found out she was recognized for the award.
"My website certainly isn't finished yet and it was still in the midst of being worked on when I submitted it," she said. "I kind of expected not to win because of that, but I was pretty happy to [hear that I did]."
She said it is important for there to be more female representation in technology fields.
"I think it's just a very male dominated field and there's no real need for it to be," Derry said. "It's just as easy for a woman to work on anything related to technology as a guy."
She is considering entering into next year's award but she will wait to see how her computing interests progress.
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