The AspireIT middle school outreach program is a pilot initiative that matches Aspirations in Computing award recipients with participating Academic Alliance or K-12 Alliance members to create and run computing-related outreach programs for middle school girls — such as after-school programs, summer camps, clubs, or weekend conferences. Inspired by the desire of young women in computing to "pay it forward," AspireIT aims to employ a "near-peer" approach that provides middle school girls with a positive, sustained experience of learning and creating computing alongside their peers in high school and college. AspireIT is supported by Google, Intel, and Northrop Grumman.

AspireIT Pilot Programs

The AspireIT program has awarded $102,491 to 24 pilot programs in its inaugural round! These programs will run in 15 states at more than 25 sites, reaching a diverse community of nearly 800 middle school girls with 25,000 hours of instruction in computing and technology. Each program brings together an Aspirations in Computing recipient (currently high school or college aged young women) and a K-12 or Academic Alliance member.

For more information, please contact Carol Bowar. Also, for program leaders, the toolkit is available online.