Thanks to the ACM-W Scholarship award, I was able to attend the 2023 SIGCSE Technical Symposium in Toronto, Canada. It was really exciting to be able to attend the conference, meet researchers and practitioners in computing education, and hear about exciting new research. I learned a lot from attending the paper and poster sessions, got to meet researchers whose work I had read during the social events, and was able to meet other students interested in computing education through the student volunteer program.

While Northwestern has a strong has a strong research community in computing education, it was still energizing to be able to meet others who are doing research in the field at different institutions and learn from their experiences and about their philosophies and approaches. I want to bring some of those ideas and perspectives into my own work and teaching as I progress through the PhD. It was also really meaningful to be able to think about and discuss with others future directions for improving computing education for all. While there were impactful innovations presented at the conference, it is still clear that there is a lot more work to be done.

Overall, I am really grateful for the ACM-W Scholarship. SIGCSE TS was my first in-person conference and I am new to computing education research, so it was a really important experience for me. I feel encouraged and energized to continue my work.