PVHS wins AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award

Computer science student Joselyn Leyva works on coding. (Photo by Mylah Andrews)

By Nichole Liu, PVHS Student Reporter

For the second year in a row, Paloma Valley High School won the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award from the College Board. The award recognizes PVHS for increasing enrollment of females in male-dominated computer science programs.

Paloma’s AP Computer Science teacher, Michael Wilson, sees the award as proof of restrictive old-school ideas being done away with. Gone are the days of classes like computer science being “boys only” classes. Now more and more girls are signing up and realizing that not only can they do computer science, but that they’re incredibly good at it.

“They’re better than the boys sometimes,” laughs Wilson, “though don’t tell the boys that.”

Junior Joselyn Leyva is one of the female students this award represents. Leyva talked about how cool the award is, describing it as a way to recognize the women who are finally able to show what they can do in computer science and coding.

“It’s nice to be able to dedicate this to all the girls who are joining, and there’s more and more people joining the class now,” she said.

Both Wilson and Leyva see the increased diversity in computer science as a good thing for the future. They agreed it will contribute to even more people showing interest in the field, and Wilson highlights how it closes the gender gap that has dominated the future of STEM careers.

Wilson finished his interview with a little saying that we can all live by.

“We’re all capable of doing anything that we set our minds to, and no other factors need to come into play in that. If you want to do something, go for it!” he said.

Teacher Michael Wilson leads the effort to involved more females in the program. (Photo by Mylah Andrews)

 More females are showing interest in computer science at PVHS. (Photo by Mylah Andrews)

Michael Wilson instructs his students on computer coding. (Photo by Mylah Andrews)