South Fayette School District News Article

SFHS Earns Diversity Award

South Fayette Township School District (SFTSD) proudly shares that the High School has earned the College Board AP® Computer Science Female Diversity Award for achieving high female representation in AP Computer Science A (CSA). With this award, the College Board seeks to honor schools that are expanding access to AP computer science courses for female students.

South Fayette High School was one of only 237 recognized for improving female representation in AP CSA. Award contenders must either have reached 50% or higher female representation in one of the Advanced Placement computer science courses or have achieved a percentage of female computer science exam takers that meets or exceeds that of the school’s female population. Overall, during the 2023-24 school year, 1,153 institutions achieved an AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for CSA, CSP or both courses.
 
“We’re thrilled to congratulate our female AP computer science students and their teachers on this step toward gender parity in computer science education,” said Dr. Kristin Deichler, SFTSD’s Assistant Superintendent. “It’s particularly notable at South Fayette as our CS teachers are also female. Mrs. Dawn McCullough teaches the AP class specifically, and Ms. Lynette Lortz leads the preparatory courses. We are honored that our high school earned this distinction and look forward to seeing our students pursue and achieve success in computer science education and careers.”

“Computer science is the source code of our economy and much of the career landscape,” said Trevor Packer, head of the AP Program with the College Board. “In the seven years since we began the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award, it’s been heartening to see schools like South Fayette welcome so many more young women into this vital field.”

“Ms. Lortz and I are thankful for the pathways that are in place for our students and for the full support of our administration/leadership team,” said Mrs. McCullough. “All of that allows females to embrace CS knowing they are fully capable of excelling in CS courses. We are excited to continue to build these pathways for our students! This award is a very cool accomplishment for our female students and a recognition of a total team effort in our department.” 

SFTSD integrates computer science and computational thinking into its curriculum for all grade levels, offering a variety of opportunities for students to learn CS, including after-school programs and partnerships with local organizations. Students in the AP Computer Science A course learn to design and implement computer programs that solve problems relevant to today’s society. There has been an 81% increase in female participation in the AP CSA exam nationwide since 2017. 

“I chose AP CSA because coding is very versatile [and] can be used in any discipline I'd want to study in the future,” said SF sophomore Clair Cheng, who hopes to pursue a career in  bioengineering and product development. “Also, I think the logic and reasoning skills developed in AP CSA are important.” 

“I am a part of the Competitive Programming and Math Club at South Fayette, and one of the competitions was in the American Computer Science League,” said Saishree Manda, also a sophomore at SFHS. “I would not have been able to do it without my knowledge from taking AP CSA. AP CSA is a great class to learn the foundations of Java and programming in general.” 

According to a Google study, 54% of female computer science majors took AP Computer Science A in high school. Providing young women with access to computer science courses is critical to ensure gender equity in the industry’s high-paying jobs and to drive innovation, creativity, and representation. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for computer and mathematical occupations was $104,200 in 2023. However, women represent just 26.9% of the 6.5 million people employed in the same fields.

“Despite Ada Lovelace being the first computer programmer, technology education has always been pushed on to men,” Manda said. “Being able to enter CS did not even seem like a possibility [for women, and] programs that encourage girls to enter coding fields are a very recent phenomenon.” 

“Women may be discouraged to pursue CS without proper support,” said Cheng. “I think SF is doing an amazing job in challenging this narrative. CS classes are accessible, and provide many opportunities for students to succeed. Also, having two female CS teachers, Mrs. McCullough and Ms. Lortz, is incredibly empowering for aspiring young women.” 

Both Cheng and Manda have completed Introduction to Java and AP Computer Science Principles courses at South Fayette in addition to the AP CSA course. They are currently enrolled in Honors Advanced Python III.

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