Michigan Affiliate

Announcements

2024 Michigan Affiliate NCWIT AIC Award Ceremony: We were thrilled to honor the 60 outstanding high school students from Michigan who won awards this year for their aspirations in computing in a ceremony on the Michigan State University campus on Saturday, March 16. Approximately 120 award winners, teachers, friends, and supporters were in attendance. Find a short writeup about the event here.

2024 AiC Michigan Affiliate Student Award Recipients: Congratulations to this year's NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Award recipients from Michigan! Look for these accomplished and creative award recipients from Michigan to change the face of technology in our State and beyond!

2024 AiC Educator Award: Congratulations also to Kristin Franchi of Novi High School, winner of the 2024 NCWIT Michigan Affiliate Education Award! Ms. Franchi has worked tirelessly to provide inclusive and welcoming spaces for all students to explore and excel in computing.

About NCWIT AiC: The NCWIT Award for AiC honors 9th-12th grade students who self-identify as women, genderqueer, or non-binary for their computing-related achievements and interests, and encourages them to pursue their passions. Award recipients are selected based on their aptitude and aspirations in technology and computing, as demonstrated by their computing experience, computing-related activities, leadership experience, tenacity in the face of barriers to access, and plans for post-secondary education. Since 2007, more than 20,000 students have received an Award for AiC.

Preparing for AiC 2025: Most past AiC award winners were explicitly encouraged to apply by an adult that they look up to. Do you know a high school or college student who aspires to create technology to improve the world? If so, fill this form to let them know you think they are a great candidate for an award.

Applications for 2025 will open September 1, 2024. Please send questions about the Michigan Award to [email protected].

About Michigan AiC

What we do: We empower youth in Michigan who self-identify as women, genderqueer or non-binary to pursue their dreams of effecting change by harnessing the power of computing and tech. In doing so, we are helping grow a larger, more resilient, and more diverse pool of technical talent in the State. An affiliate of the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), we advance the NCWIT mission of increasing the meaningful participation of populations currently underrepresented in computing and tech through the Michigan Aspirations in Computing (AiC) Program.

Through AiC, we implement three initiatives, which increase learners’ persistence in computing by inspiring, encouraging, and advancing them at pivotal stages of their educational and professional development:

AspireIT — sparks early interest in computing by supporting K-12 computational-education programs
AiC Awards — recognize and celebrate high school and collegiate students’ technical aspirations and abilities and the educators who support them, at both the national and local levels
AiC Community — creates a sense of belonging and endless networking and leadership development opportunities for girls, women, and other-gendered students

How you can help: Please consider if you or an organization you represent can help in any of the following ways:

Spreading the word about AiC to communities and schools throughout Michigan, encouraging more applications, and broadcasting our successes.
Rating applications and selecting winners for the Michigan AiC Awards.
Planning the annual AiC Award Ceremony
Providing in-kind donations (e.g. printing services) or SWAG for the Ceremony.
Hosting or facilitating K-12 educational programs (e.g., coding workshop, tour).
Offering job shadowing and internship experiences.
Becoming a financial sponsor.

Let us know your interest by sending mail to [email protected].

Michigan AiC is revolutionizing tech in Michigan—we hope you will join us!