Karyn Voldstad

Members of Carlmont’s Girls Who Code Club received a donation from Rachele Schainker at CMIT Solutions of San Mateo’s customer appreciation ceremony.

Carlmont’s Girls Who Code Club recently received a donation from Rachele Schainker, owner of CMIT Solutions of San Mateo, at a ribbon-cutting and customer appreciation ceremony.

The donation amounted to $1000, and Schainker presented it as a check during the ceremony hosted by CMIT Solutions of San Mateo on Sept. 9. Mallika Agrawal, senior and president of the Girls Who Code Club, attended the event and said it was an inspiring experience. 

“It’s incredible to hear that we were seen by Rachele and that she felt like we were a good cause to donate to,” Agrawal said. “It was an amazing event. I got business cards from several successful women in STEM there. That’s what Girls Who Code is really about, building that community and network so we can all get better and learn from each other.” 

Girls Who Code is a global organization with a network of clubs dedicated to closing the gender gap in the technology industry. Started in 2015, Carlmont’s Girls Who Code Club is part of the global network.

“We mostly code websites and games and introduce people to coding,” said junior Eva Breslin, outreach officer of Girls Who Code. “This donation is the biggest we’ve received, and I’m really excited about it.” 

Breslin attended the event with Agrawal, and she, too, found it to be highly inspirational. 

“It was cool that [Schainker] sought us out and emailed us about a donation. I like that she wanted to be supportive,” Breslin said. 

According to Breslin, the club plans to use the donation for more activities, like field trips to women-owned technology companies. Agrawal also mentioned a few other ideas the club has for what they can do with the donation. 

“I think we can also use the donation to buy some supplies for activities. For example, we can do some sort of activity at a club meeting, like making an analogy between a puzzle and how that develops an algorithm,” Agrawal said. 

The club is still brainstorming ideas for what to use the donation for. 

“We can use [the donation] to attract new members and make our activities more engaging, more interactive, and develop our club a little more. We’re going to ask our members what they would like to see from us because that’s what’s important,” Agrawal said. “We’re going to try to increase awareness about our club and then increase different kinds of activities, especially ones that need more supplies.”

Karyn Voldstad, who advises the club and teaches AP computer science and machine architecture at Carlmont, agrees that it would be beneficial to use the donation for marketing. 

“The percentage of girls signing up [for the club] is getting lower. It used to be at 40%, but it’s going down. If a girl is unsure whether she wants to do computer science, the Girls Who Code Club is a great way to get some exposure. I’d like to use the money for recruitment, but I’m not sure what that means just yet,” Voldstad said. 

This is the first donation that the club has received. According to Voldstad, the club gets $500 yearly from the Girls Who Code organization to spend through Amazon, but most of the money goes unused. 

“Money is not something we go looking for. I don’t know what to do with all this money. If we use it for a field trip, and we have to get a bus that’s expensive, and the school doesn’t pay for it, we could use it for that,” Voldstad said. “We could use it to buy some technology supplies. I supply the computers, so we could get Arduinos, or something else club members could program.”

Overall, the club’s members are excited about the possibilities of the donation and are appreciative of Schainker’s gesture.

“Each member is going to definitely be able to get a lot from the donation, hopefully. One of the most exciting things is just the principle. It’s nice that there are people who want to help support this effort. It’s very inspiring, and I’m very excited,” Agrawal said.