Interview with Lauren Boyle, Digital Girl of the Year

Publication date: August 3, 2015

Julie Cullen, EU Code Week Irish ambassador interviewed Lauren Boyle, Digital girl of the year. It is wonderful to see young people are showing interest in computer science.

You are the EU Digital Girl of the Year and you love to code! In your opinion, how can we encourage more young people to start coding?

I think that we can encourage kids to try coding projects – start off with Scratch & create a cool game. This gets kids excited! They’re now interested in learning more about coding. They can move on from Scratch and learn new coding languages with new possibilities. Watch cool coding videos, learn what cool things you can do with coding.

This is our third Code Week EU. Each year, thousands of people have taken part in events across Europe. What would you say to anyone who is interested in learning a little code?

I think trying resources like code.org, Scratch, Code Academy etc. And if you can, attend your local CoderDojo.

Can you tell us what it is that you love about coding?

I love coding because my ideas come alive with coding. You can make your ideas digital with coding. There are so many possibilities with coding. Last year, I made a series of websites for kids called Cool Kids Studio – here you will find life skills and healthy eating sites. This year I made Cool STEAM Kids, an app and site encouraging kids aged 10-15 to try out science, technology, engineering, art & maths. I also really like making games.

Is there any female role model that you look up to?

I have many role models both female & male. Including: Prof. Danielle George, Anne Sophie Mutter, Malala Yousafzai, CEO’s of some companies and of course My Mum, Tania Taylor. Some of the females who have supported me, encouraged me or given me opportunities include: Margaret Burgraff – Intel, Ann O’Dea – Silicon Republic, Mary Maloney – Coderdojo, Eithne Harley – Accenture, Sinead McSweeney – Twitter and many more. I am grateful for all their time and experience they have given me.