Celebrating International Girls in ICT Day 2023

For International Girls in ICT Day on the Gold Coast, two long-standing #ictgisp schools ran large events for their female digital technologies students. Saint Stephen's College and Trinity College Beenleigh both had full day events consisting of keynote presentations, panel discussions and experiential learning to celebrate this United Nations-based event.

19 ICT industry representatives from companies like Westpac, Entag, Data#3, Microsoft, Deloitte Digital, Brisbane Catholic Education, Women in Technology, Vela Software, Study Gold Coast, The Lottery Office, TAFE QLD and the Gold Coast's own Toast VR all gave up their time to talk about their experiences in the tech industry. They provided context about the possibility of a career for over 150 students who attended the two school sessions. Saint Stephen's also ran a Boys in ICT program for 140 boys.

The theme of this year's International Girls in ICT Day was 'Digital Skills for Life' and the school facilitators presented the message that a career in ICT or technology is not just computer programming. Hands-on sessions using learning technologies like Micromelon robot Rovers were also run so that the students could learn new tech skills.

The questions from the students were fantastic and each presenter got their message across to resonate with the students and help them understand that they can do anything if they put their minds to it, and the tech industry welcomes diversity including female tech workers.

Kim Clark, Business Development Executive from ENTAG said, 'When you actually take a moment to pause and think about some of the questions that have been put to us on the panel, it reminds us of why we're in the industry and what inspires us to grow. This event was so valuable for me because being out there amongst the community and sharing career insights, hearing about other people's stories and their journeys inspiring people is an important thing to do. I wish someone had shared these insights with me when I was younger.'

12 #ictgisp schools chose to acknowledge International Girls in ICT Day in 2023, and we look forward to presenting a larger good news story when all of those schools complete their initiatives.