Yabesra Ewnetu of Justice High School (3301 Peace Valley Lane, Falls Church) was selected as one of three 2021 National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) Virginia affiliate winners for participating in computer-related extracurricular activities; leadership through teams, clubs, and teaching peers; and advancing their own computing experience and technical skills.

Ewnetu is part of the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) Impressionists group, an afterschool mentoring program that works with middle and high school minority girls interested in participating in career-related STEM activities.

Through that organization, they have had the opportunity to facilitate their own STEM seminars. HackSIP, a hackathon financed with an NCWIT grant, teaches girls from around the country how to code using a microbit.

This summer, after securing a second NCWIT grant, the students will be hosting HackSIP2, a weeklong summer STEM camp for girls.