In a little less than 2 months, a major computer science event will be happening right here in Maryland.  The national all-women’s hacking event, Technica, will be held on campus at the University of Maryland on November 5-6th.

Technica is a national women’s hacking event that calls women from all walks of life to come together under the common interest of computer science. Participants don’t need to have any experience for this event either. Amritha Jayanti, founder of the event and Roosevelt’s very own alumni, asks that “people who attend should at least have an interest in computer science.”

Jayanti completed her 4 years at Roosevelt with flying colors, and then chose to attend the University of Maryland in College Park. She said she entered UMD quite unsure about what she wanted to pursue, until she finally came to the conclusion to enter into the area of computer science. “I always had an interest in computer science, but I was never sure if I was going to pursue it in college,” she said. As she studied computer science, she noticed that there were “not nearly as many women in the computer science program as there were men.” A year after her initial observation, Technica was born with the intent of bringing more women into computer science.

In the 24 hours that Technica is active, attendees from a wide age group form groups of any given number. High schools and middle schools from all over the area have students who are interested in taking part in Technica this year. Rosana Miller, a student who is in the AP Computer Science course here at ERHS, was one of the first to hear about being able to attend the event. She stated, “I think it’s great that other girls my age can participate in something as empowering as Technica.”

According to Amritha, seasoned computer science students attend Technica to compete for prizes and to talk to the various sponsors of the event to potentially land a computer science job. The event has a wide range of activities, and all attendees are welcome to participate.