Meet our first superstar: Stefania Spachou

The results are in! We’re proud to announce our first-ever Meet and Code superstar winner, 16-year-old Stefania Spachou from Trikala, Greece.

#eLearning #MeetandCode #DigitalSkills
27.01.2022

Stefania started coding at a very young age in elementary school using Scratch. Since then, her love for coding has grown from strength to strength. At her school, she was the programmer in charge for Lego WeDo and EV3 where she designed award-winning robots. Recently, Stefania has been focusing on web design and programming using HTML5 and JavaScript.

Inspiration is the name of the game

Stefania would like to inspire every young person, especially girls, to see coding as an essential skill for their future. “While we all know how to use technology, many people don’t know how it works or how to use it safely, especially when it comes to social media. This should be a motivator for more people to learn basic coding,” she says. “I also don’t know many girls in Greece that have taken up coding, so my aim is to inspire other girls in my country and across Europe to improve their digital skills.”

Apart from improving 21st century skills to help address and conquer Europe’s digital divide, Meet and Code’s goal is to support the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, one being SDG5 (Gender Equality).

At Meet and Code we believe that it is important that more girls are inspired to improve their digital skills to create equal opportunities and close the pay gap across the continent. A recent study by the European Institute for Gender Equality revealed that if more women took up jobs in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) fields, the gender pay gap in Europe could be closed by 2050.

Many people believe that coding is only for boys. However, this is not the case! It is essential to break this stereotype to encourage more girls to get into code, enjoy the opportunities it offers, and inspire other girls to get involved.

Girls can do IT!

Meet and Code also aims to address this gender divide with the Girls Do IT! award category recognizing the strides girl coders are making.  As part of her prize, Stefania will join the Meet and Code jury as a young voice. She says that the ability to recognize an idea that is original and interesting, and seeing through a well-organized and structured event, to actually realize the work and effort needed behind it will make her a great jury member.

She’s looking forward to gaining experience and learning while being a jury member. “I’m excited to go through the process and see more ideas for events that promote coding.”

You can learn more about the Meet and Code Award and jury members here: https://meet-and-code.org/gb/en/award

Congratulations, Stefania! We look forward to joining you on your coding journey!