“Now that I think about it, it was a nudge in the right direction.”
This was one of my student’s reflections on how her mum forced her to do coding classes at age 9.
That is the same reaction I have now when I think about how my dad forced me to take Grade 10 Computer Science after I moved to Canada at 15. The way I remember it, he said something like, “This is a technologically advanced country and everyone uses computers.” At that time, he had no idea how right he was. I had very basic computer skills and still typed with one finger. My pace was painfully slow lol. I thought computer science was only about PowerPoint, Word and Excel. I never imagined you could tell a computer what to do through programming.
So when I made my very first Scratch project, it opened up a whole new world that has never stopped expanding. I began making simple games on one of the best beginner-friendly platforms out there. You can check out Scratch here: scratch.mit.edu. I still remember staying up the night before my final scratch assignment was due. It was an interactive children’s animation. It was a lot of work but so worth it.
My journey continued with Java through Processing and then Greenfoot. From jungle adventures to space shooter games, something in me was waking up. In Grade 11, I shifted to Code.org’s App Lab. I love Code.org and it is the top platform we use at While She Is True to teach our girls. You do not need coding experience to use it. Most of the curriculum is self-paced and students can follow along easily. If you want to implement Code.org or other coding tools in your school, institution or club, feel free to reach out. I even made a small web app selling faith-based merch. It was buggy and not very pretty but it showed me that you could build real things with code. Even then, I still did not feel drawn to app or game development. I enjoyed coding but did not feel fulfilled by those fields. So I thought I was going to become a microbiologist or conservation biologist or biomedical engineer.
Everything changed when we started preparing for the AP Computer Science exam in Grade 12. We had to use plain Java with no games or fun abstractions. I learned the Java Math library and that changed everything. I had always been a science kid and strong in math so this clicked for me. In Pre-Calculus we solved a lot of quadratic equations. I found a website called MathIsFun that had a quadratic calculator. One day I scrolled down and saw the explanation of how they built it. They broke down the exact steps. That moment (definitely God-ordained) made me think, “Wait, I can build this.” Using the Java Math library, I realized I could do square roots and all the pieces needed for the formula. So I built a quadratic equation solver on CodeHS with Java in about 15 minutes. CodeHS is another great platform designed for high school: https://codehs.com
That was the “Eureka” moment. I finally knew what I wanted to do with my love for computer science. I wanted to solve computational problems. I wanted to build tools that helped scientists and mathematicians. Science nerds like me. I dropped the biology and engineering plans and applied for Computer Science in university.
It was a whirlwind from there. I moved from Winnipeg to Calgary to study CS at the University of Calgary because I wanted to do research and build tools for scientists, especially biologists.
I started off strong with a 5 on my AP CS exam which allowed me to skip the first university course. The catch was that I now had to teach myself Python. Funny enough, Python has become the language I use the most today. It is the foundation of all my research and the course I'm a teaching assistant for.
In my first year I joined my university’s iGEM team, one of the world’s top synthetic biology competitions. I dove into computational and mathematical modeling, built a full website for our project and even got my first taste of machine learning. Check out my work with iGEM here: https://2022.igem.wiki/calgary/
Somewhere along the way I also learned Assembly, C++, C, Web Development, Database Design and computational theory. I will be honest, those courses humbled me. They had me questioning if I should have been a math major instead.
Second and third year were a blur. University was hard but meaningful. During that time, I founded While She Is True and began growing this movement for girls in tech. Explore WST here: whilesheistrue.org
I eventually found my footing again and applied for a research position that ignited my love for computational biology and AI. I stayed with that lab, fell completely in love with research, published a paper and even got to travel because of it.
And through all of this, WST kept growing alongside me. Now I find myself doing exactly what that younger version of me dreamed of. I use AI to help biologists solve real problems.
This journey is not finished. I am still walking it and will keep walking for as long as I can. You have your own story and your own path that shaped who you are. Keep going and encourage others. This journey has shown me that computer science is not a standalone discipline. It touches everything we do. Just like math and English became foundational subjects from the earliest grades, computer science is on its way to joining that list sooner than we think.
If you know a young girl who needs a taste of what this world could look like, I invite you to explore our programs at WST. And if you want help bringing CS education into your school or community, feel free to reach out.
And honestly, the journey has only begun. I am nowhere near the end. I still dream of building a technology consulting company, teaching at the post-secondary level and collaborating with world-leading AI and computational biology teams like Isomorphics Lab and Google DeepMind.
I am getting there bit by bit and you can too.
P.S. The COMET Opportunity for Students
Through my journey, one thing I have learned is that you need to work smarter, not harder. That is why I am always looking for ways to automate tasks or make life a little easier.
One tool I discovered over the past few months is Perplexity and their native browser, Comet. In my opinion, it is the AI tool that can actually help you with school, research or even exploring new ideas for fun. Unlike many other platforms, it is built to provide accurate results with verifiable sources.
The great thing is that students get 12 months of Perplexity Pro and Comet for free, valued at $240. You can sign up with your student email here .
And who knows, it might be the start of your thousand-bit journey.