This past weekend, the Union College Computer Science Department sponsored a group of six students to attend the annual ACM New York Celebration of Women in Computing hosted in Fort Williams Henry Hotel & Conference Center in Lake George. The New York Celebration of Women in Computing, or NYCWiC, has held the conference remotely for the past two years. This is the first in-person conference the ACM-W Union College Chapter has attended since the outbreak of COVID-19. Throughout the two-day conference, students gained the opportunity to attend a series of workshops and talks ranging from technical topics like Cloud Native Development and Quantum Algorithms to personal development like Public Speaking and How to Avoid Burnout.

Students grew their network by attending the career fair with potential employers and graduate schools and had thought-provoking dinner discussions with a mixed group of students, faculty, and people in the industry. After the conference, students responded positively to having the opportunity to meet like-minded individuals and learning about the supporting community for women in technology.

In particular, Amarachi Ivoko ‘23 says that “NYCWiC was a really great opportunity to network. I also really appreciated the keynote speaker Melissa Lee. Her story really inspired me to not give up. Everyone’s path is different and I shouldn’t compare myself to another person.” Leah Piscitelli ‘23 follows the sentiment, commenting that “NYCWiC reminded me that there are so many women in STEM. It was an amazing opportunity to meet students like me who are so passionate about computer science. Definitely an experience I will remember. Side note: who thought it was a good decision to bring a bunch of CS majors together and try to convince them ghosts are real?” Co-Editor-in-Chief Jing Chen ‘23 also attended the conference, thanking the Union College Computer Science department for “funding this event and making it possible. It was my first in-person conference and it was absolutely inspiring.”

In the future, ACM-W Union College Chapter will be encouraging students from all backgrounds who are interested in computing to attend more of these events, such as the Grace Hopper Celebration, the biggest women in computing conference in the US.