Ellis students win computing/IT awards
Three Ellis students have been recognized by the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Awards Committee, which honors young women for demonstrated, outstanding aptitude and interest in information technology and computing. Ellis junior Mackenzie Ferris and senior Campbell Konrad were named National Runners-up of the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing as well as local affiliate winners for the Pennsylvania: Western & Central Pennsylvania and West Virginia region. Junior Heather Harrington was selected as local Affiliate Award Winner.
NCWIT‘s criteria includes demonstrated leadership ability; academic history; and plans for post-secondary education. All three girls are members of the Girls of Steel, an all-girls FIRST robotics team based out of Carnegie Mellon University.
“Mackenzie, Campbell, and Heather are great role models who demonstrate the power girls and young women have to flourish and innovate in technology. I’m so passionate about making sure that girls are exposed to and excel in technical fields. These girls are incredibly talented,” said Dr. Lisa Abel-Palmieri, Director of Technology and Innovation at Ellis, who endorsed them for their NCWIT awards.
About Mackenzie Ferris: As a programmer beginning her third year with the Girls of Steel, Mackenzie helped to program a camera to track targets as the team’s robot navigates on the playing field. Her programming experience now extends to robotic drive trains and controllers. She has served as a teaching assistant with a Carnegie Mellon University program teaching Chinese students to program Arduino robots. She knows the basics of Java. She has taken an Introduction to Engineering Design class as a part of Project Lead the Way, where she learned engineering design, including sketches, marking measurements, and has used CAD Autodesk Inventor. At Ellis, she uses the drag and drop program Snap! to program Hummingbird robots. Soon she will learn about programming in Python. She’s also the Finance Leader for the Girls of Steel, keeping track of the team's money and budget, figuring out ways the team can raise money, contacting sponsors, and writing the business plan. Mackenzie hopes to be a Computer Science Engineer and has high hopes for a career at Google.
About Heather Harrington: As a member of the Girls of Steel, Heather learned Java and worked on the robot’s vision sensing code to track rectangles above basketball hoops on the field and calculate position relative to targets. This code—which used the vertical percent of the camera view to calculate the robot’s distance from the target and determine the speed of the shooting wheel required to score from any position—helped the team’s robot get to the World Championship Competition. Heather is now one of two co-leaders of the programming sub-team of Girls of Steel. She also volunteers at Carnegie Mellon University building Romibo, which help children with autism. At Ellis, Heather is a member of the Geek Squad where she helps students and teachers use technology in the classroom. She also serves as Director of Technology for “Ellis Speaks,” the school’s student-run speaker series. Heather believes that an energy revolution is eminent and hopes to be at the center of it by working at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory researching and developing renewable energy technologies.
About Campbell Konrad: Campbell’s interest in technology was inspired by her grandmothers—one a real-life "Rosie the Riveter" and the other a tech-savvy Southern belle who was one of the first women hired by Tom Watson at IBM in 1930s. Campbell believes that FIRST robotics changed her life. As her robotics skills and confidence increased, she went from a Girls of Steel electronics tester, welder and chassis builder, to programmer and competition driver. She is now leader on the drive team and her programming skills helped lead the team to win the regional Rookie All- Star twice, a Raytheon's Innovation and Control Award, and the Engineering Inspiration Award (two years in a row). She’s served as an intern at CMU’s Entertainment Technology Center and attended summer programming camps at Stanford University and University of California, San Diego. She plans to major in Computer Science and minor in Film and Media Arts and Engineering. She hopes to fully discover and explore the disciplines of STEM and the arts to explain and share the beauty of the natural world and express human emotion without limits.
Join us in congratulating these three amazing young women!
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“Mackenzie, Campbell, and Heather are great role models who demonstrate the power girls and young women have to flourish and innovate in technology. I’m so passionate about making sure that girls are exposed to and excel in technical fields. These girls are incredibly talented,” said Dr. Lisa Abel-Palmieri, Director of Technology and Innovation at Ellis, who endorsed them for their NCWIT awards.
About Mackenzie Ferris: As a programmer beginning her third year with the Girls of Steel, Mackenzie helped to program a camera to track targets as the team’s robot navigates on the playing field. Her programming experience now extends to robotic drive trains and controllers. She has served as a teaching assistant with a Carnegie Mellon University program teaching Chinese students to program Arduino robots. She knows the basics of Java. She has taken an Introduction to Engineering Design class as a part of Project Lead the Way, where she learned engineering design, including sketches, marking measurements, and has used CAD Autodesk Inventor. At Ellis, she uses the drag and drop program Snap! to program Hummingbird robots. Soon she will learn about programming in Python. She’s also the Finance Leader for the Girls of Steel, keeping track of the team's money and budget, figuring out ways the team can raise money, contacting sponsors, and writing the business plan. Mackenzie hopes to be a Computer Science Engineer and has high hopes for a career at Google.
About Heather Harrington: As a member of the Girls of Steel, Heather learned Java and worked on the robot’s vision sensing code to track rectangles above basketball hoops on the field and calculate position relative to targets. This code—which used the vertical percent of the camera view to calculate the robot’s distance from the target and determine the speed of the shooting wheel required to score from any position—helped the team’s robot get to the World Championship Competition. Heather is now one of two co-leaders of the programming sub-team of Girls of Steel. She also volunteers at Carnegie Mellon University building Romibo, which help children with autism. At Ellis, Heather is a member of the Geek Squad where she helps students and teachers use technology in the classroom. She also serves as Director of Technology for “Ellis Speaks,” the school’s student-run speaker series. Heather believes that an energy revolution is eminent and hopes to be at the center of it by working at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory researching and developing renewable energy technologies.
About Campbell Konrad: Campbell’s interest in technology was inspired by her grandmothers—one a real-life "Rosie the Riveter" and the other a tech-savvy Southern belle who was one of the first women hired by Tom Watson at IBM in 1930s. Campbell believes that FIRST robotics changed her life. As her robotics skills and confidence increased, she went from a Girls of Steel electronics tester, welder and chassis builder, to programmer and competition driver. She is now leader on the drive team and her programming skills helped lead the team to win the regional Rookie All- Star twice, a Raytheon's Innovation and Control Award, and the Engineering Inspiration Award (two years in a row). She’s served as an intern at CMU’s Entertainment Technology Center and attended summer programming camps at Stanford University and University of California, San Diego. She plans to major in Computer Science and minor in Film and Media Arts and Engineering. She hopes to fully discover and explore the disciplines of STEM and the arts to explain and share the beauty of the natural world and express human emotion without limits.
Join us in congratulating these three amazing young women!
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