February signifies Black history through the years, and MAST’s Hour of Code program presented the role or lack of role, Black culture plays in Computer Science. Participating in Hour of Code made me think of the influential African Americans that paved the way and that I am just as capable to contribute to the Tech world. The most significant moment of the event was the statistics of underrepresentation women of color face in Computer Science. For example, women of color struggle to get the same acknowledgment as others in Computer Science because they are not encouraged to fulfill roles in Computer Science. Also, this demonstrates that women, specifically women of color, are in the shadow of men in the Computer Science industry. As a result, many women of color are not getting the access they deserve, which makes you question, what else are women of color not getting access to? During Hour of Code I learned that many high schools do not offer Computer Science courses, but those that offer Computer Science have an increasing number of students of color.
My experience participating in the coding activity, Scratch block-based coding, was a challenge for me and something I need more practice with. During the coding activity, I had to code a way for my character to fly around the base that was given. Also, I was able to read up on the important African Americans that helped NASA in their space program. I think coding is hard for me and not something I enjoy, as it can be challenging in many aspects, but I am thankful for the experience and information. I am also thankful for the strong African Americans, past and present, that faced struggles and contributed to the Computer Science field.
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