Black Girls Rock! 100 teens attend computer science summit

NEWARK ^[1] — About 100 teens attended a Saturday morning event in Newark, which sought to get black girls to embrace coding and computer science, no matter what profession they plan to enter.

Initially, the young women shouted out different terms when asked who they think of as a "computer scientist."

"White!" "Boy!" "Asian!"

But the speakers squashed the idea that black girls can't be in that group.

In Newark, Michelle Obama declares Black Girls Rock!^[2]

"If you're feeling uncomfortable, if you're feeling like you don't belong in your classes, that actually means that you have a more creative approach and a different perspective," said speaker Lisa Gelobter, the U.S. Department of Education's chief digital officer, who grew up in a low-income home.

This was the thrust of the event: that diverse employees, including black women, are needed to make products better.

Also, the girls were told, computer science is not just for software engineers ^[3], since technology has transformed every single field, including singing and acting.

The international nonprofit organization Black Girls Rock! teamed up with Google to offer the tech conference, which took place in the New Jersey Performing Arts Center ^[4] from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

It was the first-ever Girls Rock Tech! Summit.

This is how to change the game: @djbeverlybond, @#blackgirlsrock, and @madewithcode join forces for the... https://t.co/hwGSjZlXvl ^[5]^[6]^[7]
— BLACK GIRLS ROCK! (@BLACKGIRLSROCK) April 2, 2016 ^[8]

Beverly Bond, Black Girls Rock!^[9] founder, said she hopes her new organization Girls Rock Tech! will become its own free-standing organization, outside of the Black Girls Rock! umbrella.

Newark was chosen because the Black Girls Rock! award show ^[10], which honored Rihanna and Shonda Rhimes, was in NJPAC Friday night and has been held in NJPAC the past few years ^[11], she said.

"This is actually like a 'coming out' for Girls Rock Tech," she said. "This is to be a more well-rounded STEM initiative... so the girls aren't walking around thinking they need to take a coding class and they don't need to do anything else."

Girls Rock Tech! Summit at NJPAC attracts 100 girls The Newark event was targeted toward black girls, with the aim of getting women of color excited about computer science and coding. April 2, 2016. (Laura Herzog / NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

A five-member speaker panel featured several high-profile speakers, including three with their PhDs.

There were also three women who work for the federal government, including Gelobter; Knotakie Ford, a senior policy advisor of the White House Office on Science and Technology Policy; and Assistant Director at White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans ^[12] Lauren Mims, who encouraged every girl to create her own app.

The panel moderator was Jamika Burge, director of assessment technology products and research at UCLA and Howard University.

Another speaker was Quincy Brown ^[13], an American Association for the Advancement of Science science and technology policy fellow at the National Science Foundation.

The summit also featured a coding workshop, where young teen girls used a computer program to make a custom design for a reusable water bottle.

Former Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Tatyana Ali ^[14] attended the event as well.

This amazing morning @BLACKGIRLSROCK w Google's @madewithcode have brought 100 girls together to talk about #STEM pic.twitter.com/7uhMHUMp4P ^[15]^[16]^[17]^[18]
— Tatyana Ali (@TatyanaAli) April 2, 2016 ^[19]

To illustrate the importance of black women in tech, Brown told the girls that when she researched why automatic faucets were not easily working for her, she learned the sensors were trained to pick up lighter-colored hands.

"Had someone been in the room when that was created, tested, that looked like me, they would have said 'we've got a problem,'" she said.

Even someone who aspires to become "famous," Brown noted, should know how to optimize their website to get on the first page of Google.

"Coding is the new literacy, and we believes black women and girls should be at the forefront of innovation," said Valeisha Butterfield Jones, head of Google's Black Community Engagement ^[20], in a statement. "It is in that spirit that we partner with Black Girls Rock!"

"I like coding because it kind of gave me an opportunity how to use art in it and try to figure out science," said event attendee Lauren Jackson, a 13-year-old from Brooklyn, who started exploring coding two years ago. "I try to use design, and learn how make things like blogs and video games."

Laura Herzog may be reached at lherzog@njadvancemedia.com ^[21]. Follow her on Twitter @LauraHerzogL ^[22]. Find NJ.com on Facebook ^[23].