As the last bell rings and students file out of the front door eager to get home, a group of 20 girls race up to the third floor. They promptly open their laptops and get ready to learn a crucial skill:how to code.

The Girls Who Code club hopes to teach girls the basic skills necessary to complete a code that will eventually help to create a website.

“I thought it was really important to get more girls involved in coding,” Claire Lee ’21, club president, said. “It’s [an] increasingly relevant field.”

Girls Who Code is a national non-profit organization that encourages girls to pursue careers in computer science, a field heavily dominated by men. According to Girls Who Code, their mission is to educate and inspire girls with the computing skills they’ll need to pursue 21st century opportunities.

A handful of the girls involved in the club, had previously taken or are currently enrolled in the Intro To Programming class at Staples, however many are not.

“I find that being in the club is a great way to implement my skills I was taught in Intro to Programming, surrounded by my friends in a fun environment,” Meghan Nealon ’21 said.

The club runs just as a normal class would, with a student-teacher demonstrating on the Smart Board while the class follows along. The leaders stress that everyone is more than willing to help each other out, and no one should feel left behind.

“Don’t feel overwhelmed [if you don’t know what you’re doing] because we are always here to help you learn and work together,” Olivia Bernard ’21 said.