BILLINGS — A group of sixth graders at Will James Middle School just took home $5,000 and the first place award for the 2025 Code Girls United App Challenge.
Code Girls United is a free, after-school program for girls in fourth through eight grade, where students learn how to code an app, public speaking, and leadership skills.
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Code Girls United was established in 2016 in Kalispell. The program has stayed within the state, but participants have the opportunity to compete at the Congressional App Challenge in Washington, D.C., in the spring.
The goal of Code Girls United is to help provide young girls with a foundation for future careers in STEM.
"The transformation from the beginning of the year to when they appear at... competition is really phenomenal to watch," said Kathy Eckhart, the programming director for Eastern Montana.
Eckhart told MTN on Friday that the program starts in September and ends in April with the statewide competition.
Participants of the program meet for 90 minutes every week, where they learn how to code an app in MIT App Inventor.
"There's some career readiness involved where they can choose flexible, well-paying careers without even having to leave Montana," said Eckhart.
At the statewide competition, students in groups of two to five come with a prepared presentation and their created app. The goal is for the students to find a problem in the world and create an app to help solve that problem.
Will James middle schoolers Åsa Osterlund, Hailey Whisenhunt and Tristen Heinert took home first place, against more than 70 teams, with their app, "Sched-You-All."
The app intends to help middle and high school students stay on task and stick to their school assignments.
"It was, like, for keeping track of school, if you had assignments. We kind of targeted it at teens," said Whisenhunt on Friday.
"There's a to-do list which would show you what was due and when it was due," said Osterlund.
From September to December, the students learn the basics of coding and presenting. In the spring semester, the students begin designing their app.
"I like that they're trying to get girls together to code together, and that they're trying to teach female students new things," said Heinert.
But "Sched-You-All" wasn't the only app created by Will James middle schoolers.
Code Girls Ava Hammond, Kenley Medvec and Olivia Bishop created "Perfect Product," a skin-care app designed for people with allergies and different skin types to help navigate appropriate skin-care products.
"There's a search screen. There's a profile screen. There's a bar-code scanner. So (how the bar-code scanner works is) you get a product in the store, say you're interested in it, you scan the bar code, and it'll give you the top allergens," said Hammond on Friday.
Both apps created by the Will James Code Girls have educational games embedded as well.
While Medvec, Hammond and Bishop didn't take home the title, they said they still enjoyed the opportunity to meet other girls interested in STEM during their time in the program.
"I like coding and that sort of thing, and making things. So then I joined in the fourth grade and I've just stayed in it because I really like it," Bishop said.
Because of their positive experience participating in the program, many of the Will James Code Girls intend to pursue STEM careers after graduation.
"I wasn't going to do, like, coding for a career. I was maybe thinking of being like a math teacher," said Medvec.
"I'm thinking I want to be a computer science engineer," Wisenhunt said.
"When I get older, I want to be like a scientist or like a chemist," said Heinert.
Code Girl United is looking for adults interested in volunteering in summer programming and fundraising. Registration for volunteering can be found at this link.
"These girls need the support of the community and their parents to be continue to be successful," said Eckhart.
Camp Code Girls on the Run United takes place at United Way on June 23-26 and Aug. 18-21. Cyber Camp takes place at Montana State University Bozeman's campus from July 7-11. Code Girl United's summer fundraiser, Summer Tea, takes place at the Hilands Golf Club on August 16.
More information can be found on the Code Girls United website.
