About the Aspirations in Computing Educator Award

Educators such as teachers, technology specialists, counselors and more play a pivotal role in addressing the shortage of young women in computing. Sixty-seven percent of applicants report learning about the Aspirations Award from a teacher or other school official. NCWIT is able to reach these young women through the generous support of the Computer Science Teacher’s Association, the International Society for Technology Education, and the American School Counselors Association.

In addition to identifying a pool of talented young women, the Aspirations Award also identifies outstanding educators who play a pivotal role in helping to encourage the young women to continue exploring their interest in computing and technology. The NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Educator Award recognizes educators for their efforts to promote gender equity in computing. The awardees are selected from the educators who are engaged in endorsing Aspirations award applications. Each awardee is eligible to receive up to $1000 in reimbursement for participation in computing-related professional development. The Aspirations Educator Award began with gift from Google, and in its first year the Educator Award was able to recognize 20 exceptional high-school teachers from around the country. We are happy to welcome the Defrag Conference as a sponsor in 2011-12.

Sherry Garmon

Pete Knight High School

Palmdale, California

Sherry Garmon spent three months writing two new computing courses and submitted them to the UC school system for approval. Both the Contemporary Multimedia Design and Multimedia courses were approved for credits and are now used at several other area high schools. These courses allowed Sherry to introduce game design to her students. She saw the need to take the pathways to a new level at her school, and joined with the Engineering department to found the Digital Design and Engineering Academy. The Academy is now in its fourth year at Pete Knight High School and has grown to 300 students. When the school started there were very few young ladies interested in joining the Academy, but now they comprise over half of the Academy.