Akamai Partners with Girls Who Code for 2017 Summer Immersion Program

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Akamai Technologies, Inc. AKAM, the world's largest and most trusted cloud delivery platform, is pleased to announce its partnership with Girls Who Code – a national non-profit organization that seeks to inspire, educate and equip girls with computing skills for the 21^st century.  Akamai will serve as a host company for the organization's acclaimed seven-week Summer Immersion Program (taking place at Akamai from July 10 – August 24).  This is the company's third year hosting the program.

The Summer Immersion Program will reach 1,600 rising 11th and 12th grade girls this summer across 80 programs in 11 cities including Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C.  

In addition to providing onsite computing skills training, volunteer mentors from Akamai will help the girls each week with activities such as updating their resumes, adding to their LinkedIn profiles, and presentation skills.  Akamai will host a workshop with local experts in user-experience engineering, and a field trip is scheduled to Watson Health, where they will learn about artificial intelligence for medical diagnostics.  In addition, the girls will participate in a 'How the Internet Works' game and tour of Akamai's state-of-the-art Network Operations Control Center (NOCC).

"The imbalance in the numbers of women focused on careers in computer science, software development and Internet technologies continues to be one of our industry's biggest challenges," said Dr. Tom Leighton, Chief Executive Officer at Akamai. "Partnering with Girls Who Code is an important step towards better preparing young women for technology jobs – an investment, we believe, that is vital to the future of technology and innovation."

"Too often girls don't pursue computer science because they've never been exposed to it, or they don't see the impact it can make on the world," said Girls Who Code Founder and CEO, Reshma Saujani. "Through our partnership with Akamai, we can show them, 'Look, you can do this. You can code this. This is a world that's open to you, and once you learn this skill set, the possibilities are endless.'"

93% of Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program participants said that because of the Summer Immersion Program, they now want to major in, or are interested in computer science.  84% of Girls Who Code alumni said they were likely to pursue a career in technology (source: Girls Who Code annual report, 2016).

"I am so proud of Akamai's continued strong support for Girls Who Code," said Kate Jenkins, Chief Architect of Mapping Engineering at Akamai and Akamai's technical advisor to the Girls Who Code program. "This program has a huge impact in inspiring girls to pursue careers in computer science.  I want girls to know that this career path is open to them, and is filled with opportunities to work with smart, creative people to develop technology that shapes our world." 

The seven-week Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program embeds classrooms in major media and tech companies and universities. Students learn the fundamentals of computer science from robotics to how to build a webpage while gaining exposure to the tech industry and mentorship from women working in technology. No prior coding experience is required.

About Girls Who Code

Girls Who Code is a national non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology. Through its Summer Immersion Program and Girls Who Code Clubs, the organization is leading the movement to inspire, educate, and equip young women with the computing skills to pursue 21st century opportunities. Additional information is available at www.girlswhocode.com.

About Akamai

As the world's largest and most trusted cloud delivery platform, Akamai makes it easier for its customers to provide the best and most secure digital experiences on any device, anytime, anywhere. Akamai's massively distributed platform is unparalleled in scale with over 200,000 servers across 130 countries, giving customers superior performance and threat protection. Akamai's portfolio of web and mobile performance, cloud security, enterprise access, and video delivery solutions are supported by exceptional customer service and 24/7 monitoring. To learn why the top financial institutions, e-commerce leaders, media & entertainment providers, and government organizations trust Akamai please visit www.akamai.com, blogs.akamai.com, or @Akamai on Twitter.

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SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.