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By Samantha Walravens
Rian Walker did not have an idyllic childhood. She was raised by her grandfather in the small town of Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Her mother was incarcerated when Rian was three years old, and her father in and out of her life until her grandfather passed away when she was 14. For the better part of high school, she stayed with families of her friends and got a job at local donut shop to support herself.
Despite these struggles, she had taught herself to program in multiple languages by the time she graduated and truly loved technology. But she was on her own. None of her friends shared her passion.
“Unfortunately, there wasn’t really anyone else in my community who was into computers and technology,” she explains. “There were no camps, no classes. So I just started doing stuff on my own.”
That included programming her MySpace page in HTML “to make it look cool” and tinkering with wires when her dad was repairing car audio systems.
The turning point came in 2012 when, as a senior in high school, Rian won the NCWIT (National Center for Women & Information Technology) Award for Aspirations in Computing. It was the first year the award was offered in the state of Mississippi. Her high school counselor encouraged her to apply and, when she won, drove her four hours to Mississippi State for the awards ceremony.
Being part of NCWIT was a life-changing experience for Rian.
“All of a sudden I was part of this community where there were thousands of girls who were into computer science and programming, who knew what I was talking, about and who I could relate to,” she explains.
Programs like Aspirations in Computing are helping to close the large and well-documented gender gap in the technology industry. Past recipients of the high school award have gone on to study computer science at top universities like MIT, Carnegie Mellon and Stanford. The NCWIT community supports its members in many ways, including offering college and career advice and connecting girls to a wide network of technology professionals.
Soon after winning the award, Rian received a grant from (Intel supported) NCWIT AspireIT Fund to launch Bulldog Bytes, a summer camp for Mississippi kids to learn computer science and cyber security. She is graduating from Mississippi State this spring with a degree in software engineering and has accepted a full-time position as a technical analyst with Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.
Rian’s journey hasn’t been easy. She doesn’t have a perfect GPA. She’s struggled with tough classes, finances and many other hurdles - and she has persevered.
“She is the epitome of resilience,” says Ruthe Farmer, Chief Evangelist at CSforAll Consortium and former Chief Strategy Officer for NCWIT. “She is the kind of engineer we want. One who is willing to fail and get back up and try again.”
Rian credits the NCWIT community for getting her to where she is today.
“Everything I’ve accomplished to this point -- my internship with Bank of America to my full-time job offer, the countless conferences I’ve been invited to speak at and my work inspiring computing in Mississippi-- can be attributed back to the Aspirations in Computing Award and the NCWIT community,” she says.
Rian’s dream is for other girls to have the same opportunity she’s had to pursue their love of technology.
"I want computer science to be normalized, to be a part of every high school curriculum ," she explains. "If I were to look past the money and the reality of being an adult, I’d create a ‘pack and go’ curriculum and take it all over Mississippi and to other parts of the country to get as many people, especially girls, into computer science as possible."
Applications for the 2018 Award for Aspirations in Computing are being accepted now through November 6. Here's what a few other award winners had to say about the program:
“ The NCWIT community has served as a support network that is always just a click away .” – Beth Marie Hadley, AiC Award winner 2011, BS MIT 2015, MS, MIT 2017
“NCWIT has given me a lot of opportunities, including working with Melinda Gates and her team for her video project on bringing awareness to women in STEM. It is great to be a part of an organization that can have an impact on the world and to be constantly surrounded by a supportive, like-minded group.” -- Aishwarya Mandyam, AiC award winner 2015, Sophomore at University of Washington
“NCWIT has given me many more opportunities than I ever imagined. I'm currently in Orlando for the Grace Hopper Conference because of it!" – Sarah Lu, AiC award 2016, Sophomore at USC
“The NCWIT award was hugely pivotal in my college experience because it included an all-expense paid trip to the annual NCWIT summit, where I was able meet the other amazing women who won the award, as well as speak to educators and members of the industry working to address issues regarding women in technology.” – Rae Lasko, NCWIT Collegiate Award 2017, Junior at Carnegie Mellon
