Summer 2023 Program Announcement

We're excited to host our 2023 program in person! CSK Students lives on-campus and attends the program a week before school begins and immerse in the world of computer science.

CS KickStart is a one-week introductory class to computer science. Students learn how to program, meet computer science students and professionals, and are introduced to different areas of computer science. This program targets incoming UC Berkeley students who are curious about computer science and are interested in math, science or engineering. Students do not need to have any prior skills in programming. Our goal is to give them a hands-on experience in programming and to show them the creativity and power of computer science.

WHY DOES CS KICKSTART EXIST?

Girls are naturally just as interested in computer science as boys, but as they grow up, they are increasingly less likely to pursue tech roles. According to McKinsey, an American worldwide management consulting firm, "tech companies concentrate 66% of their philanthropic funding on K-12 programs, compared to 3% on college-level programs."



At UC Berkeley, CS is 25% female and EECS is only 20% female. Our program helps close the gender gap by creating a supportive community, providing female role models to participants, and giving resources to allow woman to succeed in the tech industry,

OUR TIMELINE

OUR CO-FOUNDERS

Floraine Berthouzoz

Floraine was a research scientest in the Creative Technologies Lab at Adobe Systems. Her research interests were in computer graphics and HCI. Her work was aimed towards building tools that make it faster and easier for people to create and visualize high quality media content. Besides her work, she loved to travel—never getting tired of visiting new places, learning new languages, and understanding different cultures.


Colleen Lewis

Colleen is an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She specializes in computer science education and curriculum development. Lewis also reasearched gender and diversity issues in CS education and how programming environment shapes perception, learning and goals. Lewis teaches computer science courses as well as a seminar course on computer science education.

BRING CSK TO YOUR CAMPUS!

Any university campus can have a CS Kickstart program! CS Kickstart is a program that aims to improve the enrollment and persistence of women in CS related majors. We hope to give women a voice and level the playing field in terms of academic and career opportunities. Interested?

Just write to us at cskickstart@gmail.com!

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