At Coders, not only do our members teach in classrooms, but we also have opportunities for members to attend conferences all over to develop their skills professionally. This year Katie Schmidt attended the Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing Conference 2019 (MICWIC) in Grand Rapids, Michigan to present her poster on Copper Country Coders. She represented Coders and Michigan Tech fantastically!
MICWIC is a bi-annual conference for women across Michigan to gather and share their experiences in computing. The conference features research presentations, project presentations from professionals in the industry, guest speakers on recent advancements in computing, and a poster session, which Katie presented in.
Katie has been part of Coders since January 2019 and loved assisting with the Coding is a Snap! group her first year. For the 2019-2020 school year she created and led Raspberry Pis and Python with Laura Albrant. She was the Vice-President for the 2019-2020 school year and currently serves as the President of the organization. She didn’t think about teaching before she joined Coders, but keeps coming back because she loves working so closely with the students.
Listening to my students get really excited about what they’re building is what makes me keep coming back to teach. They constantly surprise me with what they’re able to do and how they make each program their own.
Katie Schmidt on why she enjoys Coders
Outside of Coders Katie works as a Resident Assistant in West McNair and is involved with the Aerospace Enterprise. Her favorite experience while at Michigan Tech was when she studied abroad in Lima, Peru. She is currently pursuing her Bachelor’s in Computer Science and intends to return to Tech to complete her Master’s in Data Science.
To view the poster Katie presented at MICWIC, check out the PDF below.