Girls received their certificates at Neuhausen am Rheinfall (SH)

For the first time in a German-speaking canton, girls completed the "Internet & Code for girls" course, already organized in French-speaking cantons since 2003 in French and since 2011 in German. These courses were developed by EPFL to initiate young girls to computer science and coding and encourage them to choose these fields for their further studies or professional path. The workshops could be organized in Neuhausen am Rheinfall (SH) thanks to a close collaboration between the go tec! foundation and EPFL, and financial support from the Credit Suisse Foundation.

Saturday, it was with joy and pride that 44 young girls between 9 and 12 years old received their certificate in the go tec! building during an official ceremony, in the presence of Mr. Christian Amsler, President of the State Council of Schaffhausen, Mrs. Patricia Egger, consultant at Deloitte, Mr. Peter Pfeffer, member of go tec! and director of the School Development for the canton of Schaffhausen, Mrs Daniela Bertoli from Credit Suisse, and the organizers, Mrs Farnaz Moser, Director of the Science Outreach Department of the EPFL and Mr Christoph Leu, Director at go tec!

Many thanks to the personalities who in front of the 120 people audience emphasized the need for MINT specialists in Switzerland, the very interesting professional perspectives in these fields and who strongly affirmed that the presence of women in these fields is essential. There is no doubt that the course, the ceremony and the informal aperitif have encouraged girls to venture further in the field of information and communication technologies, with the crucial support of their parents.

Parents' testimonies:

• "Unsere Tochter hat den Kurs sehr spannend und lehrreich gefunden, möchte sich entsprechend bedanken und war sicher nicht das letztemal dabei. Auch von uns Eltern ein ganz herzliches Dankeschön, das ist ein ganz phantastisches Angebot!"

• "Vielen herzlichen Dank für ihr Engagement. Der Kurs hat unserer Tochter sehr gut gefallen und sie hat viel gelernt.Heute hat sie ihre Urkunde erhalten und wir Eltern sind natürlich sehr stolz."

• "Vielen Dank nochmals für den tollen Kurs für die Mädchen und die gelungene Abschlussfeier letzten Samstag."