This year, Riya Hegde ’25 has made waves in the world of coding, earning media attention for her Compass project and driving passion for women in STEM. This year, Riya has devoted time and energy to tackling an enduring problem in the computer science industry — specifically, the gender disparity in the field. According to Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Professional Education blog “The Gender Gap in STEM: Still Gaping in 2023,” women only make up 28% of the STEM workforce.

Riya aims to change this. After applying and being accepted into CL Compass, WRA’s independent study opportunity, she developed Python Pals, a coding course to help young girls learn about the computer coding program, Python, and hopefully igniting the spark for STEM that she has felt since elementary school.

The Akron Beacon Journal tells the full story. Click here to read the article.