IT awards program for teen girls in Minnesota

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn.- It's a fact: women are underrepresented in computing fields. Despite holding six in 10 American jobs, women hold just 26% of computing jobs. And 2/3rds of employers cannot find qualified applicants for their open positions.

An organization trying to change that is the Minnesota Aspirations for Women in Computing awards program.

Russell Fraenkel, Advance IT director, and Annelies Odermann: 2014 Minnesota Aspirations for Women in Computing award winner, joined KARE 11 News @ 4 with the details for the 2015 competition.

• The Minnesota Aspirations in Computing awards program was developed to address this issue and help close the gap by introducing young women to technology fields. This is the third year for the award in Minnesota. The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) created the Aspirations Award in 2007.

• The awards program encourages high school girls to consider and pursue IT as a possible career.

• Generates visibility for women's participation in computing-related pursuits.

• Winners will receive prizes such as iPads, cash prizes, and mentorship/job shadowing opportunities at Minnesota technology firms.

• Applicants will be automatically entered into the national awards program, too.

• Winners will be announced in December with an awards event in April 2015 at Land O'Lakes.