Girls From Across Michigan Vie for Prizes in MCWT’s Website Design Competition

More than 160 girls across Michigan developed websites in the Michigan Council of Women in Technology Foundation’s 13th annual website design competition. From October to December, the girls participated in free coding and design training and built websites centered on the theme “my week without digital technology.” Seventy teams of middle and high school girls from cities such as Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Detroit submitted websites, with 40 of them competing in Finals Day on Jan. 12 at Blue Care Network in Southfield.

“We are happy to host the longest-running website design competition for Michigan girls and convene the parents, teachers and IT leaders who have great influence in fostering young girls’ interest in IT,” said Chris Rydzewski, MCWT executive director.

MCWT President Jane Sydlowski kicked off Finals Day by challenging IT field stereotypes and reinforcing the need for more girls and women to support one another in their technology aspirations.

“Today you’re competitors for a prize, but this is just a contest,” she said. “The real winners will venture around the room, meeting the other students and talking to the tech leaders here. After today, you’re all companions traveling along the same road.”

More than 100 subject matter experts from MCWT’s partner companies volunteered their time to examine the entries and select the finalists. The finalists then demonstrated their sites in front of a panel of nine judges, comprised of CIOs and executives from Blue Care Network, Intel, Ford Motor Co, Quicken Loans, Dow Chemical, Comerica, Accenture and Ally Financial. 

“I had the opportunity to learn coding and in the future I want to consider it as a profession,” said Maisha Hossain from Detroit International Academy for Young Women, who competed in the middle school category. “I was able to do two things I never thought I could: go through a week without technology and make a website and upload it at the age of 12.”

Claire Yang from Troy High School partnered with Lily Yang and took first place in the high school beginner category. 

“Designing our website was an amazing experience and our favorite part was being able to see our website’s progress from what started off as a blank page to what you see here,” said Claire Yang during her presentation. “We encountered several obstacles along the way, but overcoming these is what made this experience so much more rewarding. We’ve both always been really passionate about engineering and doing this competition only strengthened that interest.”

Winners from each category:

High School Advanced Category

FIRST PLACE: Mariam Mahmoud and Sonali Narayan, Huron High School, Ann Arbor

SECOND PLACE: Sumedha Vadlapudi, Novi High School

THIRD PLACE: Nikitha Chittela, Salem High School, Plymouth

High School Beginner Category

FIRST PLACE: Claire Yang and Lily Yang, Troy High School, Troy

SECOND PLACE: Caroline Johnson, Center Line High School, Center Line

THIRD PLACE: Lia Boussi, Dearborn Center for Math, Science and Technology, Dearborn

Middle School Category

FIRST PLACE: Sanjana Madapa and Shruti Balla, Achieve Charter Academy, Canton

SECOND PLACE: Terra Workman, Grand Rapids Public Museum School, Grand Rapids

THIRD PLACE: Pooja Chandrashekar & Shradda Doddaguni Harish, Boulan Park Middle School, Troy

Ally Financial, Blue Care Network, Meijer, and Accenture sponsored the competition. Since 2006, the competition has drawn more than 1,100 competitors and awarded thousands in cash prizes.

The finalists’ websites can be viewed at mcwtwebdesign4girls.net/.

The Michigan Council of Women in Technology Foundation strives to inspire and grow girls and women in technology fields, with a vision to make Michigan the No. 1 state for women in technology. The organization supports Michigan’s female IT workforce, students, corporate partners, schools and the overall community with networking, learning, mentoring, and technology experiences for professionals and students. Find more information at www.mcwt.org and connect via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

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