CST 361S Technology Tutors

Update your learning journal from what you experienced this week with class/with your community partner.

How many hours have you completed to date? 

Include a 1 paragraph reflection on the Black Girls Code video.

This week, I was able to get to my volunteer site. I have about 26 hours as of tonight. My assignment was the same, repairing Chromebooks. I took some time on the first one, where I was taking some time to relearn the process. We were running out of spare parts for the model I am familiar with, the 11e. About a hundred Chromebooks were recently donated and some of those were being taken apart for spare parts. I am not familiar with the model they were taking apart. Chromebooks don’t all take the same parts, unfortunately. I want to continue volunteering while I look for entry level tech positions at schools and internships. I might even apply to do research at CSUMB, but I want to improve and rewrite my projects first. 

I met some students from CSU Monterey Bay who were siblings. I believe it is currently their summer break so they have a lot of spare time to do what they want. I asked the lady what she was studying, and she said Computer Science but she was planning on changing her major because she didn’t want that career. I didn’t ask specifically why, but kind of wish I did. I talked briefly with another student who was back to Salinas for summer from a college in North Carolina. I asked him how it was, and he said the college is fine but he’s experienced blatant racism in the town. If I got a job in the South, I would probably not be happy experiencing casual racism like that. Being called names and treated differently feels very bad to me, but I know its just words. It still hurts though, I think everyone has a similar feeling. 

The TedxKC talk by Kimberly Bryant was informative. I knew of other groups like Girls Who Code, Kode with Klossy, and Code2040 but I have not heard of Black Girls Code. I thought that it was a great program that can keep giving when its students can go on to teach and inspire others. I know some critics would say that it's divisive to make race-specific clubs and exclude others but this group is trying to remedy a specific problem, increasing the numbers of black women in tech. If the group was open to all races but only girls, it might not seem as welcoming to black girls if there are a lot of non-black girls there. Joining a group seems less scary if there are similar faces around. There are groups who cater to all races of girls like Girls Who Code. It's also possible to start your own program for a school if you want. It might take some time and patience though. When I was in high school, one of my underclassmen's engineering dad taught a Robotics 7th period course.