To engage girls in more STEM activities, Girl-Up and Sandbox Systems hosted a coding camp at Round Rock High School Nov. 3.

“It’s important for high schoolers to learn how to broaden their knowledge and develop new skills,” Sandbox Marketing Coordinator and Girl-Up VP of Marketing Riya Chaudhry said. “This camp provided that opportunity by teaching one of the most essential skills in modern day society: coding.”

Sandbox Systems LLC is a new technology startup founded by students from Round Rock and McNeil high schools. The McNeil students involved in Sandbox include seniors Aadhithya Kannan, co-CEO of the company, and Chaudhry, marketing coordinator.

“As co-CEO, I’m in charge of managing the development side of things, whereas my other co-CEO handles the business and finance side,” Kannan said. “I get to program the actual products. I enjoy it a lot because I love making things that don’t exist.”

The other host of the camp was Girl-Up – a campus club that is a branch of the United Nations foundation Girl-Up. This organization is dedicated to women empowerment and defending gender equality.

“Being co-president of McNeil Girl-Up allows me to initiate change and give back to the community in the most direct way possible,” senior Anushka Noubad said. “This organization gives me a better perspective on different societies of different nations and how women play a role there.”

Students who attended the coding camp learned the basics of HTML coding and created their own websites. At the end of the activities, students were given certificates of completion. McNeil students who attended include Sumayyah Hussain, Amber Hoskins, Nikita Chaudhry, Noubad, Chaudhry and Sampada Gokhale.