Intern Feature: Samaiyah Snowden
As we are wrapping up the second week of Girls Code the World summer programs, we are very excited to continue our Intern Feature Series! This article features Samaiyah. E. Snowden, our Summer Program Associate who has just finished her first week of programming this summer! Samaiyah attends Science Leadership Academy in Pennsylvania. At school, she is involved in FIRST Robotics Club, Varsity Soccer, and CTE Engineering. She is also a Student Representative and does other volunteer work around the school.
As a big fan of Hidden Figures, a movie that is loosely based on the 2016 non-fiction book of Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly about African American female mathematicians who worked at NASA during the Space Race, Samaiyah says that “ the women in Hidden Figures constantly motivate [her] to keep going and the movie actually helped spark [her] interest in STEM.”
At Girls Code the World, Samaiyah helps teach young girls interested in STEM fields engineering-focused lessons. She is also a mentor for the girls, providing them with someone who is knowledgeable in the field and can answer any questions their curiosity brings. “I love the fact that I’m able to give the girls the support that society doesn’t give us, young women in STEM. Most times we’re doubted, and told that we’re not enough. I’m happy to break that barrier that society puts up.”
“I wanted to challenge society’s vision of who women should be. For too long we’ve been doubted, told that women don’t belong in STEM. I often am doubted in my field, and told that this is not me. I saw this as an opportunity to provide support for young girls interested in STEM, that most of us don’t get.”
~Samaiyah on why she joined Girls Code the World
When asked about her favorite part of Girls Code the World, Samaiyah says that she loves seeing the girl’s reactions when they realize that they’ve engineered something. “When they can make connections between the real world and what they’re working on, their eyes light up, and it makes me feel like I accomplished everything I came to do. I see how girls go from quiet and more reserved, to wanting to engage in every lesson, sharing lots of great ideas.” Throughout her role at Girls Code the World, Samaiyah learned that “it only takes a week of programming and learning to spark an interest. If more girls were exposed to these types of hands-on lessons, if more girls knew about these careers, we would have more women in these fields.” This reflects our mission at Girls Code the World–––to provide the opportunities, resources, and role models for young girls in STEM-related fields and to empower girls to not just enter but also become leaders in STEM fields.
Samaiyah says that she has been enjoying her time as a GCTW Program Associate. She also loves working with our co-founders Sydney and Mina as they are “very transparent about what’s happening” and includes her in the entire planning and programming processes.
We very much appreciate Samaiyah’s work at Girls Code the World and we can’t wait to see what she does as she goes into engineering for college.
“We are exposing girls to new activities and careers that they otherwise wouldn't have found out about. We’re creating that foundation of STEM knowledge, so that they themselves can decide their career paths. Not society.”
~Samaiyah on why she thinks Girls Code the World is important