At the 12 th Annual YWCA Rhode Island Women of Achievement Awards, Bryant University and Amica Mutual Insurance Company were honored for their joint program, the Fantastic Girltastic Code Company’s App Challenge. The Fantastic Girltastic Code Company is a YWCA program that encourages middle school girls to develop a passion for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Bryant Women’s Summit Executive Director Kati Machtley partnered with Amica’s Internet and Mobile Experience Marketing Officer Jill Rasmussen to build a multidisciplinary team of women from both organizations to develop the App Challenge program, which took place at Bryant on April 2.
Twenty-seven girls from the YWCA, ranging in age from 9 to 12, participated in the challenge. They worked in teams to identify a challenge in their community and propose a creative technology solution to address it. Mentors helped the teams develop their ideas and create storyboards to present to a panel of judges.