We hope you had as much fun as we did! 

We hope to see you next summer!

ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing

September 19 - 22, 2018 in Orlando, Florida 

The goal of the Tapia Conferences is to bring together undergraduate and graduate
 students, faculty, researchers, and professionals in computing from all backgrounds
 and ethnicities to:

Celebrate the diversity that exists in computing;

Connect with others with common backgrounds, ethnicities, disabilities, 
and gender so as to create communities that extend beyond the conference;

Obtain advice from and make contacts with computing leaders in 
academia and industry; 

Be inspired by great presentations and conversations with leaders with
 common backgrounds

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Grace Hopper Celebration

September 26-28, 2018 in Houston, Texas 

The Grace Hopper Celebration is the world's largest gathering of women technologists. 

It is produced by AnitaB.org and presented in partnership with ACM. 


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HENAAC

October 17-22, 2018 in Pasadena, California

The nation’s most prestigious stage for honoring excellence, building and reinforcing 
networks, the HENAAC Conference is the place where top executives, innovative 
professionals, and the brightest STEM students convene.

Attending career fairs an NMSU is also a great way to network! You can find the 
calendar at https://careerservices.nmsu.edu/career-fairs/.

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Aspirations

1. NCWIT Aspirations in Computing (AiC) provides a long-term community for 
female technologists, from K-12 through higher education and beyond [...] The 
NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing honors young women at the high-school
 level for their computing-related achievements and interests. 

1. Win Prizes

2. Attend a celebration held in your honor

3. Become a part of the Southern New Mexico women in tech community 

4. Recieve funding the host your own after-school program

5. Get access to exclusive scholarship and internship information

Applications open September 1st. To learn more, visit aspirations.org.

***You have already answered all the essay questions in your portfolio***

2. YWiC hosts an after-school program during the fall and spring semesters. 
Be on the lookout for more information about meeting times and 
dates on our website ywic.nmsu.edu.

3. Interested in studying CS at NMSU? Check out the department website at cs.nmsu.edu. 

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Did you know? There are a lot of national holidays today – and some of them are 
definitely weirder than others! Here are three of the coolest holidays that are going 
on today!

1 - National Stick Out Your Tongue Day

Yes. Yes, this is a thing. Today is the day we celebrate that wonderful, hidden tongue
 of ours by sticking it out at people and showing it off to the world! In most countries - like
 ours - this gesture can be considered quite rude, but there are a few different ones. For
 example, in Tibet, sticking out your tongue at someone is considered a polite greeting. 
So let’s all greet people in the Tibetan way by sticking out our tongues today!

2 - National New Friends Day

Friends are a way to enrich our lives and help us learn and understand different points
 of view about the world. Let’s all take some time to appreciate the awesome new friends
 we made at this camp and the new things they’ve taught us. Friendship rocks!

3 - National Air Conditioner Appreciation Days

Now, since we’re in the middle of July and the sweltering desert heat, I think it’s a great
 time to celebrate this underappreciated holiday. Starting on July 3rd and continuing for 44
 days afterwards, we appreciate our wonderful air conditioners that keep us from keeling
 over. Let’s soak in the cool air we’ve been given and really enjoy that magical comfort
 in the middle of summer!

************************END OF THE DAY************************

ALL PORTFOLIO QUESTIONS

RETROSPECTIVE SURVEY

Last fun blog prompt!

It’s Thursday, people! Time to show your Pajama Pride!

  

Did you know? There is an actual National Pajama Day! April 16th is national pajama day
 (a holiday which is sadly under-celebrated and under-appreciated). No one knows who 
created it or why it was created, but it has been around for about twenty years now. 
Petition for a movement to get Pajama Day more widely recognized, anyone?

 

Did you know? The greatest leap of progress in the pajama industry occurred in 1971
 when the Customer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) established regulations that 
set the new standard for the flammability of children’s sleepwear. Prior to these 
regulations, children’s sleepwear had been dangerously flammable, and there was 
a huge problem with children’s clothing catching fire while they slept. Since the 1971
 act, there was a ninety percent decrease in child deaths by fire. Safety standards are
 very important, everyone!

Learn more about the specific regulations here! ->
  https://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Business-Education/Business-Guidance/Childrens-Sleepwear-Regulations

Did you know? The Amherst programming team at the University of Massachusetts has
 created a new type of pajamas called “Phyjamas” which use advanced panel sensors
 and a process called “reactive vapor deposition” to monitor posture and respiratory 
and cardiac signals of wearers while they sleep. This data can be used to provide people 
with useful information to improve their sleep patterns and lessen the chances of stress,
 infections, and multiple diseases which can be caused by unhealthy sleep. They don’t
 have pictures of the pajamas out yet so this is just an image of “advanced pajamas”.

******************************END OF THE DAY******************************

/* CLICK HERE for the survey! */

/* CLICK HERE for the fun blog prompt! */ 

Portfolio: Day 9 

What have you already done with computing and technology? 
Include what you did these last two weeks.

It is Wednesday (again), my dudes!

Time to celebrate some great cartoon
 characters and computer science!

Let’s talk about the most famous cartoon characters of all time, and some of the
 accomplishments they’ve had over the years. According to hixic.com – and the 
majority of other websites that I’ve checked – these are the top three most famous 
cartoon characters of all time!

1 – Mickey Mouse

Well of course Mickey would be here! Debuting as “Steamboat Willie” back in 1928, Mickey
 Mouse was the first cartoon character with sound and speech, originally voiced by 
Walt Disney himself! Mickey is the mascot of the Walt Disney company and is actually
 more famous than Santa Claus around the globe.

2 – Bugs Bunny

Coming up next on the list is arguably the most famous rabbit in the world. He’s a
 cool, carrot-eating characters from the 1930s, and was also the first cartoon character 
ever to appear on a stamp. Bugs Bunny has starred in over 180 films, which is the 
highest number of any cartoon character, even Mickey Mouse himself.

3 – Homer Simpson

The most famous character from the popular American cartoon sitcom 
“The Simpsons”, Homer and his family are much more than just cartoon characters.
 They’ve actually been awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and Homer 
himself has been described by the British newspaper “The Sunday Times” as “The 
greatest comic creation of [modern] time”.

Did you know? There are actually tons of cartoon and comic characters that
 revolve around coding. Three of the most popular coding cartoon characters are 
Ruby from “Hello Ruby”, Princess Ruruna from “The Manga Guide to Databases”, and
 basically the entire cast from “Secret Coders”. Here are short summaries of each!

 

1 – Hello Ruby:

“Hello Ruby” follows an adventurous girl named Ruby as she finds creative solutions to 
all kinds of problems and mysteries that pop up in the world around her with help from
 her various friends.

Learn more here -> http://www.helloruby.com/

 

2 – The Manga Guide to Databases

This book deals with the struggles of Princess Ruruna as she tries to manage all the
 data and systems that make up the huge fruit-based kingdom she lives in after her 
mother and father leave on a trip. With the help of a fairy named Tico that she met inside
 a guidebook, Princess Ruruna learns to navigate databases simple and complex.

Learn more here -> 
 https://www.amazon.com/Manga-Guide-Databases-Mana-Takahashi/dp/1593271905

3 – Secret Coders

Definitely the most famous coding cartoon here, “Secret Coders” is basically what 
would happen if Hogwarts had been a secret school for computer science where coding
 replaces magic. Filled with a colorful cast, interesting plot twists, TONS of coding 
concepts and lessons, and even its own Twitter account, “Secret Coders” is a fantastic
 coding adventure.

Learn more here -> http://www.secret-coders.com/

******************** END OF THE DAY******************** 

 /* CLICK HERE for the survey! */

/* CLICK HERE for the fun blog prompt! */

Portfolio: Day 8

What would say are your greatest skills or accomplishments?
 (include any awards, certificates, etc… )

It’s time to put on your dresses and dress shoes.

It’s Dapper Day Tuesday!

        

Did you know? There is an entire website devoted to the lifestyle of being dapper.
 It contains tips and tricks for being dapper, online catalogs for different kinds of dapper
 clothing – from modern prep to formal dresswear – and much more. Everything about
 this little website is dapper, even the design and logo of the website itself! And it takes a
 lot of work to be so dapper – this website uses about fourteen different widgets and
 libraries of code.

Check it out! -> https://beingdapper.com/

Did you know? There was a man named Abdulahi Olatoyan who worked as a windshield
 wiper in southwest Nigeria – and he always wore a dapper suit and tie while he worked.
 Abdulahi was a university dropout who was looking to work his way back to college and
 finish his education, even working his way up there using a squeegee wiper. The head 
of a huge Nigerian fashion company saw pictures of him online and made an Instagram 
post asking any of his 18,000 followers to track Abdulahi down so he could offer him a
 job as a model. The CEO felt that Abdulahi was the sort of man who could inspire fashion
 in others, no matter what situation he was in. And he was right! Abdulahi is a very 
successful model and fashion icon within the company now.

Learn more here! ->
  https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/20/africa/dapper-car-washer-nigeria/index.html

******END OF THE DAY******

/* CLICK HERE for the survey*/

/* CLICK HERE for the fun blog prompt */

Portfolio!

Day 1:

Why you came to this camp?
  What you want to get out of it?
 What have you already accomplished in computing and technology? 
 What might you do with computing and technology in the future?

---

Day 2:

Describe ANY leadership positions you have had in school and/or community. 
 Describe your Interest in Computing and Technology. 
  Describe your Career goals in detail. 
What do you want to accomplish? 
Why is your career goal important to you?

---

Day 3:

Please describe what sparked your interest in computing and 
technology AND HOW that interest has furthered your experience
 in computing and technology? This is your time to shine - tell us what you
 have been doing and why?

Please describe a problem that you would like TO SOLVE using technology
 and explain HOW you would solve it (this could be a social problem, a
 technical problem, a local problem, a world problem, etc.).

---

Day 4 

What is your involvement in Curricular, Co-curricular and Extracurricular activities?
 (The list includes items such as computing/technology classes, clubs, 
or other extra-curricular programs or activities such as Girl Scouts, 4H, 
Big Brothers Big Sisters, etc...)

Rate your level of experience with programming platforms such as robotics, 
coding, graphics, database design, etc. (no experience, some experience,
or a lot of experience) If so, give examples. If not, why? 

Rate your level of experience with hardware/networking/system operations 
activities such as computer maintenance, software installation, server support,
 network support, cyber security, etc.  (no experience, some experience, or a lot 
of experience) If so, give examples. If not, why?

---

Day 5/6

Provide an overview of your project/artifact.
 (For example, I designed a video game using Scratch 
programming where the player, or shark, has to catch fish. Or... 
I am designing a Lilypad project that will...)

What did you plan to learn from your project? Did you meet this target?

What computer science concepts did you use in your project?
 (Variables, loops, conditional statements, functions, lists/arrays, methods, etc.)       

What computational thinking principles did you use in your project?
 (Abstraction, algorithms, correctness, efficiency, iteration
 or loop statements, variables, etc.)

How does your project relate to the “real” world? 
What did you learn or use that will help you outside the classroom?

In your project, what did you particularly want others to notice?

What would you improve if you could do this over again?

Does this project reflect the effort you put into it? Why or why not?

---

Day 7

As far as your plans after high school:

Please describe HOW you would like computing and technology 
TO BE A PART OF your career goals.

Please describe another problem that you would like TO SOLVE using 
technology and explain HOW you would solve it
 (this could be a social problem, a technical problem, 
a local problem, a world problem, etc.).