The girl above has been fighting prejudices that define girls and women across color lines and geographical limits as belonging in the kitchen and not being capable of studying mathematics, science, and technology. She launched a DigiGirlz Initiative aiming at empowering young girls in STEM. 'Although I did not complete my Matric with Mathematics and Science, I did receive good results in Geography, Life Science, and English 2nd language as a result of my extreme hard work"
My good results came from my second matriculation try(1989). Thanks to my parents who encouraged me to return to the classroom after spending two years at home looking for a nursing college admission (1987&88)...
Today, I received a prestigious award as a symbol of hope to many young girls who are still shaping their dream careers.
DigiGirlz Initiative aim to empower young girls into digital skills through coding, gives career guidance towards STEM careers and again connects the girls to high profile successful young female professionals. The DigiGirlz initiatives encourages girls to build their positive personal branding and gives cybersecurity awareness.
The initiative made the club to reach more than 180 girls per year and these girls come from grade 7, 8 and 9. It has gain popularity in many schools in Mpumalanga and Limpopo attracting schools to adopt the initiative as part of the schools' career days events.
In 2020, Ms. Keninda won an inspiring fifty for being a role model of young girls in STEM. The Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI) also recognized the DigiGirlz initiative as an innovative initiative. Ms. Nomusa Keninda won a Trail Blazer Award in 2021. Recently, Ms. Keninda, spent five weeks as a Techwomen Emerging Leader in San Francisco and Washington DC.
You have achieved much! Well done! Many engineers - myself included - try to get involved in educational projects, and we have little to no success. At least I managed to start a satellite branch of Highveld Technical College in Eersterust, Pretoria in 1985, and that ran for 5 years until the political changes after 1990 removed the need for such a satellite branch.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback, I hope you can still play a role in this digital era. More collaboration needed.
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