INSPIRATION IS EVERWHERE
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FIRST taught me valuable coding and leadership skills
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Christina Li
FIRST Alumna, FIRST Robotics Competition Team 217, The Thunder Chickens, of Sterling Heights, Michigan
White House Science Fair participant
FIRST is not only about robots; it's about learning. On my FIRST Robotics Competition team, The Thunder Chickens, I learned how to code from our mentors. It was really cool to see my code controlling an actual robot. I got really interested in computer science. For most of my time on the team, I was the only female programmer.
FIRST gave me the skills and confidence to help change lives in my community. As a result, I was inspired to create a tech camp to help close the gender gap in engineering and introduce more girls to computer science. I named the camp ‘Hello World’ because I wanted girls to say hello to computer science. The phrase, which is the first thing many programmers type out in a new computer science language, is symbolic of all the possibilities with computer science. I hope to show girls that their ability is unlimited.
In 2017, Christina, who is studying computer science and mechanical engineering with a focus on robotics at Stanford University, was featured on CNN Heroes for helping close the gender gap in the tech world.