March 3, 2021 — Nine Mountain Brook High School students have received the Alabama NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing (AiC). The award, powered by the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), recognizes ninth to 12th-grade students who self-identify as women, genderqueer, or non-binary for their computing-related achievements and interests, as part of an effort to encourage a diverse range of students to choose careers in technology.

The winners are listed below.

2021 NCWIT Alabama Winners

Emily King

Mary Margaret Stephenson

2021 NCWIT Alabama Honorable Mentions

Elizabeth Chapman

Annya Evans-Martinez

Emma Kao

2021 NCWIT Alabama Rising Stars

Ivy Cobbs

Reagan Downey

Ella Emblom

Molly Midkiff

“Rhonda Guillory and I are extremely proud of the hard work of these young women,” said Fred Major, MBHS computer and data science teacher. “This is the greatest number of awards Mountain Brook has received and the most in the state of Alabama. The winners range from first-time programmers to multiple-year winners. We hope more and more women will choose to try computer science here at MBHS.”

Award recipients were selected from more than 4,200 applicants from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, U.S. overseas military bases, and Canada for their outstanding aptitude and aspirations in technology and computing as demonstrated by their computing experience, computing-related activities, leadership experience, tenacity in the face of barriers to access, and plans for post-secondary education.

Each recipient will receive recognition and prizes; induction into the AiC Community of nearly 20,000 technical individuals who self-identify as women, genderqueer, or non-binary; access to resources, scholarships, and internship opportunities; and more.

“Encouraging young women’s interest in technology careers is critical: our workforce needs their creativity and unique perspectives to produce technology that is as broad and innovative as the population it serves,” said NCWIT CEO and Co-founder Lucy Sanders.

NCWIT is a non-profit community that convenes, equips, and unites change leader organizations to increase the influential and meaningful participation of girls and women — at the intersections of race/ethnicity, class, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and other historically marginalized identities — in the field of computing, particularly in terms of innovation and development. Find out more at www.ncwit.org.