On the afternoon of Friday, June 7, 2024, at the August Wilson Center in downtown Pittsburgh, SF rising senior, Nandana Menon, and recent SF 2024 graduate, Gouri Prasanth, both SF Girls STEAM members, won the 2024 CGI IT Girl Challenge. They presented their app, TABU, Toward a Better U, which assists those struggling with substance abuse addiction through positive reinforcement and motivational support throughout the recovery journey. The belief behind TABU is that everyone deserves a chance to be their best self, free of addiction. 

For their efforts, the pair earned a $20,000 scholarship to be shared evenly between them. The judges were particularly impressed with Gouri's and Nandana's storytelling skills in their presentation and the professional appearance and fidelity of their application. The young women had worked for 10 weeks, since late March, to prepare their product. 

This is South Fayette's first year competing in this event, and we are excited to continue to do so. The annual CGI IT Girl Challenge, now in its fifth year, provides female-identifying high-school students with the opportunity to create a mobile application with support from CGI and University of Pittsburgh student mentors. The applications are then presented to a panel of industry judges with the winning team awarded a $20,000 scholarship prize. Through introductory programs like the CGI IT Girl Challenge, CGI is making the field of technology more accessible to underrepresented groups. CGI’s co-lead of the IT Girl Challenge emphasizes the significance of diversity, equity, and inclusion at CGI, SCI, and the field of STEM (Pitt SCI, 2024).