This 16-Year-Old Started Her Own Hackathon for Girls in STEM

Catherine Yeo's app landed her an Apple WWDC Scholarship.
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Ananya Panchal

Catherine Yeo was three years old when she discovered Sudoku puzzles at the back of magazines and newspapers. She would compete against her mother to see who could fill in the empty cells fastest, often beating her speed. Soon enough she became hooked on recognizing patterns and solving problems, fueling an interest in math and technology. Now, when the 16-year-old from San Jose isn’t leading PixelHacks, a 24-hour hackathon geared towards female high school students, she’s using the intel she gleaned from an Apple World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) scholarship to continue to change the world through tech.

Teen Vogue spoke to Catherine about her mandate to strengthen the tech community among young girls and her proudest moments to date.

Teen Vogue: What gave you the idea to start PixelHacks?

Catherine Yeo: I had never seen a men’s bathroom line five times longer than the adjacent women’s bathroom line until I attended WWDC. In other public spaces like airports, theaters, and restaurants, it was always the reverse.

The massive gender ratio difference really opened my eyes. Most computer science classes and robotics teams only had a few girls and the hackathons I attended were dominated by male students. Out of every 200 hackathon attendees, only an average of 15 percent were female. I had mentored local Girls Who Code clubs and organized free coding workshops at a public library for middle schoolers, but WWDC made me realize that wasn’t enough. I knew I had to address the severe gender disparity so I created an initiative to introduce many girls in my community to the fun, creative side of technology. Eight months later, I stood in front of over 70 young women who were eager to learn to create innovative applications.

For two years, I organized PixelHacks, Northern California’s first all-female high school hackathon where “hackers” band together to create a technology project in a limited amount of time. In PixelHacks’ case, that meant 24 hours including overnight. I founded it to expose girls to technology and innovation, spark interest, and build confidence and fundamental skills. I invited female industry experts to mentor all attendees and speak about their experiences in a panel. My team and I planned all logistics and marketed the event to high schools across the San Francisco Bay Area, especially low-income or at-risk school districts. Most attendees had never coded before, much less attended a hackathon. Projects PixelHacks I and II winners created from scratch included a scheduling platform for autistic children, an iOS app aiming to reduce food waste, and a natural disaster relief Android app.

Photo courtesy: Ananya Panchal

TV: What are you most proud of so far?

CY: Watching the growth of PixelHacks attendees and seeing the girls’ eyes light up when they accomplished new technological feats. Right after PixelHacks I, I saw many familiar faces from PixelHacks I at other local hackathons and tech events. A mother of a PixelHacks II attendee told us she had hoped her daughter could meet new friends and come away with an appreciation for computer science at our event. After the hackathon, she was shocked to hear that her daughter decided to pursue a career in programming. Being able to observe the tangible impact of my work on so many girls and seeing their interest in computing and technology grow is my proudest achievement.

TV: Given that you operate at an advanced level, how did you make your high school experience enriching and challenging enough for you?

CY: It’s been an unexpected whirlwind. I’m currently in my second year at Stanford Online High School, unique for its virtual environment. I decided to transfer to OHS in the middle of high school to challenge myself academically and interact with students of numerous backgrounds and talents. Many of my classmates live across the globe, so it’s fascinating to hear diverse viewpoints and insights during our class discussions. The academics at my school are extremely challenging, but being at an online school also gives me the flexibility to pursue my own interests and projects like cold-calling hundreds of corporations and local stores for PixelHacks sponsorships and pursuing research opportunities. Last year as part of the Spirit of Ramanujan Fellowship and under the guidance of Emory University professor Ken Ono, I got to work with another student on producing infinite families of polynomials that satisfy the Riemann Hypothesis.

TV: Can you describe the app that eventually earned you the WWDC Scholarship?

CY: In eighth grade, my friend and I developed “Letter Pop,” an Android game where players tap colorful balloons to spell valid words for points. Our goal was to help students learn and increase their vocabulary. The entire process was fascinating. I learned to identify a problem and targeted beneficiaries, research a solution, code the algorithms, strengthen the visual graphics and user inferance, and debug. In the following two years, I continued to work on and improve Letter Pop. I taught myself Swift and XCode to implement Letter Pop in iOS and strengthened the app functionalities.

TV: What did you take away from the 2016 WWDC?

CY: It was inspiring to meet other developers and see how Apple interacted with the worldwide developer community. As someone who mostly worked alone on her projects at home, I was completely blown away by how much Apple valued developers using the company’s products and features. It was incredible to have the opportunity to learn and test new functionalities, APIs, and skills at the WWDC Labs. I had a fantastic time meeting Apple employees including Tim Cook and Craig Federighi and networking with other student developers. The developer community was much larger and more supportive than I ever imagined, and I still keep in touch with many developers and WWDC scholars I met.

TV: Where do you think the gender disparity in the tech industry comes from?

CY: I strongly believe that all women are equally talented in technological abilities, and mostly definitely just as talented as men. The problem of the enormous gender disparity lies in the lack of exposure to programming and engineering for many young women. Having access to opportunities to learn about technology can greatly increase a young woman’s interest and confidence in her skills. It is also extremely important to find mentorship and community — I am extremely grateful for the many women in mathematics and tech who have helped mentor me in my projects and ventures.

TV: Is your age is a hindrance or an asset while working in tech?

CY: As a high school senior who recently turned 16, I’ve felt that my age has been a direct obstacle the last few years regarding the search for internships, research, or summer opportunities. Many programs and resources set a strict age minimum, usually of 16. My age and background brings a fresh perspective to working in tech, which I definitely see as an asset. It also gives me many years ahead to create my own tech ventures. I do think that age should not be a factor in working in the tech industry. If you have the skill and courage, you are qualified to work in tech.

TV: Which projects are you working on now?

CY: I just finished organizing and directing PixelHacks II. Now I’m turning my attention back to technical projects. I just began my AI4ALL Fellowship research project on using reinforcement learning AI techniques to create a personalized math platform that selects problems based on a student’s previous performance. I began my journey in artificial intelligence three years ago at the Stanford AI Lab Summer Outreach Program, which is now known as Stanford AI4ALL, developing a program that utilized natural-language processing to aid disaster relief. It specifically categorized tweets from Hurricane Sandy into those asking for help and those providing help.

Photo courtesy: Catherine Yeo

TV: What advice do you have for Teen Vogue readers looking to launch their own tech ventures?

CY: There’s a poster above my bed that says “Be the nerd” that I got as a gift from Facebook at the She++ #include Fellowship Summit. There’s a wonderful story behind it. A grandmother once said on Facebook that she told her granddaughter to date a nerd in case the nerd becomes the next Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg responded that she should encourage her granddaughter to be the nerd.

The reason I bring up this story is to emphasize this: Take control of your own path. Be brave, be bold, and don’t ever be afraid to reach out to the tech community for help. Never doubt yourself, and one day you may turn your ideas and ventures into reality.

Related: The New Face of Teen Activism

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