IBM organises Exite technology camp to promote IT among girls

By Our Convergence Bureau | 06 Oct 2003

Mumbai: IBM India is hosting an IBM Exite (EXploring Interests in Technology and Engineering) camp in Bangalore from 6 to 10 October 2003. The IBM Exite camps are designed to generate interest in math and science among young women.

IBM will sustain participants'' interest in math, science and technology long after the camp is over through IBM e-Mentoring Programme, a global mentoring program that matches IBM employees with students and teachers.

Each Exite participant will receive an IBM mentor to continue the relationships they developed over the next six months. e-Mentoring will allow campers to keep in close contact with their IBM mentors and ask advice on career issues, technology and academics.

At the IBM Exite camps, 30 enthusiastic young girls from class nine from three schools in Bangalore will learn about science and engineering from IBM''s leading women technologists through fun, hands-on activities. The girls, aged between 13 and 15 years, will learn about the wearable computer, wireless technology, virtual design and speech recognition among a range of fun and hands-on activities.

Working as teams, they will also design and build their own websites. Participants will work together on various activities and will solve challenging problems through ''survival exercises'' and handling leadership challenges.

The camps are held in cooperation with Bethany High School, Poorna Pragna School and New Horizons School Bangalore. The students were nominated by their teachers and guidance counsellors. IBM hosts the camps, with no charge to those selected to attend.

Says IBM India managing director Abraham Thomas: "We''re very pleased to host an IBM Exite camp, which offers young women a look at science and math in a way they never have before. It is important that girls understand they can have an interesting and challenging career in the IT industry. This is an area that IBM, through initiatives such as Exite, is actively working to change.

"There is a worldwide shortage of technical talent and far too few women choose technology careers. With the camp we will be providing young women with positive role models and hands-on experience in technology that we hope will spark their interest and encourage them to pursue careers in technical fields."

Studies show that girls often lose interest in science during their teen years and view careers in technology as primarily for boys. The aim of the IBM Exite camps is to encourage young women to pursue math and science careers in the future. This effort will also complement the effort to fill the shortfall in resources in IT industry worldwide.

Since its inception in 1999 at IBM''s Endicott, NY site, more than 1,700 girls have attended an Exite camp. This year, the camps will be held at IBM facilities in the US, Canada, Latin America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific. Now in its fourth year, the IBM Exite camp programme has been expanded to 30 locations worldwide. This is the second time that the Exite camp is being held in India. The Exite camp is just one of the initiatives undertaken by IBM to promote women in the IT workforce.

In 2001, IBM was recognised as the Employer of Choice for Women by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency. Last week, IBM was named a top ten company in Working Mother Magazine''s prestigious Top 100 list for a record 16th year. IBM has appeared on the anxiously anticipated best companies list for 18 consecutive years and is the only company to make the magazine''s Top 100 every year since 1986, when the list was established.