My TechGirls experience
No one can deny the fact that “behind every successful girl is herself”, so let me begin with the most precious thing I’ve learned during my experience with the TechGirls program: Life is all about challenges that make you believe in yourself and support your dreams. That’s why I’m so thankful for having the opportunity to be not a typical girl but a TechGirl ! Being part of this amazing program is just the best life time changing experience I’ve ever had !
In general TechGirls is an international summer exchange program that brings 28 girls from the MENA region (Middle East North Africa) to the USA to devolop and gain skills in STEM fields (Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and its main aim is to encourage and empower young ladies (15-17y years old) to pursue careers in these fields.
I still remember the day when I recieved the email saying that I got accepted to be a TechGirl, you can’t imagine how happy I was ! It was just the beginning!
The day that I have been waiting for so long has just came and it was the day we landed in the US, you can see my tears at that moment, no kidding! then my excitment boosted when I saw the girls after being e-friends for so long, we huged each other for a long time and we were smiling all the way to our hotel in Washington D.C (even if my suitcase was not found at the airport LOL).
And the jouney has just begun with the leadership clinics -to discover that we are change makers-, getting to know better each other, discussing problems and giving solutions in a way to try and make our communities better. Also we met Ms, J-E Rash and he gave us an inspiring, empowering, encouraging ... speech. I owe him the self-confident person I am now. In addition, we had the chance to visit GOOGLE and listen to some of the proffesionalists that work there and have fought for their dreams by working hard.
TechGirls progarm taught me how to read the lessons between the lines and discover the real me in this world.
What also worth mentioning, this program made us fell extremely happy when we helped the church We Ae Family DC in the community service day and to organize food which will be given to poor families and homeless people,also when we got to know the American Culture thanks to our visits to the Capitol and several memorials such as Lincoln’s Memorial, Martin Luther King’s Memorial …
We left DC and here we are at Virginia Tech University, first the Luray Caverns was a breathtaking place, it was so cool to discover new things everyday and every moment. VT was so big and we felt all grown up because living the university lifestyle at the age of sixteen is something so fun and great. We had there coding camps including Greenfoot, basics of Java and android studio
...Also working with the girls and sharing with them my love to technology helped to develop my skills because we learned from each olher, we made mistakes and solved them togelher and it was the best way to learn. Obviously we were inspired by many things and many people there because Techgirls program encourages young girls to pursue their dreams in Technology but for me it’s more than that, this program is a way to feel valuable as girls and women in our society and in fields where boys reign, we are meant to be techgirls,change that prespective and lead the technology because STEM belongs with us. Moreover, STEM increasingly permeats every aspect of society and we have to understand that a solid computer science or any of STEM fields knowledges are very important nowadays.
The days were moving quickly and we enjoyed the coding camps, the labs visits that make you more motivated to have an engineering career, the cultral activities, shopping day, movie night, concert .. We had the busiest schedule but the coolest one too ! Then we went for a week end with a host family and I will never ever forget Karen, Konard and their three amazing cats Karma, katniss and Kissa, I feel like I’m a part of their family now, they showed me the love and the affection, and we enjoyed swimming at the lake and some cool nights talking around the fire.
It was such a blast to live such experience.
Going back to D.C after 13 days at VT with different activities, it was the job shadow day time, for me I went to iStrategy Labs (isl) with two of the most amazing girls I’ve ever met Farah Ghanma from Jordan and Rahma Fares from Egypt. isl was the perfect comapny that you could ask for, they are working with their dogs, they have a big kitchen and they have nap pace ! YES you can have a nap while working ! the most valuable thing I learned there is to love your job. You can’t do something perfectly without loving it, you have to love what are you doing and enjoy it to make out the best of it. Besides, we continued some leadership clinics, evaluations, and we had a meeting at the Department of State where we had chance to talk to some amazing proffesionalists like representers from NASA .. etc and we talked to them to see how life is going with them especially since they’re working in different STEM fields.
Saying goodbye was one of the hardest parts in my life, we cried tears and we felt very attached by hearts. We discovered that we are a small family now, getting to know the girls was super fun and passing with them almost one month is such a blessing because being surrounded by great people does not happen everyday in our lives.
To put in a nutshell, TechGirls is not just an exchange program to change just places, but to change prespectives and opinions about life, future and careers. It helped me to bring out the best version of myself and to know that ‘’impossible is nothing’’ and that now that I'm driven by a strong sense of personal achievement that makes me ready to take bigger risks and get bigger results for sure. This program inspired me and encouraged me as well to accept new opportunities, try new technics and seek new adventures. So never ever make up excuses for not trying because there are always opportunities out there.
Nour Belayech - Tunisia - TechGirls 2017
15/10/2017