My daughter wasn't into computer programming at all until last year. Then she decided to try out comp science as one of the subjects in this academic year, when we found out about MAGIC through one of my colleagues. Even though we started a bit late, it has made a world of difference! She is very interested in technology now, in fact she comes up with new ideas almost every day :-) MAGIC has indeed done magic ! Thank you very much to the mentors, organizers and volunteers for all the positive experience and influence that your program has been providing. I had the opportunity to attend the presentations at Google by some of the girls - its a truly amazing experience to see all the creativity flowing.
It was an exciting experience to see the MAGIC in my daughter's growth and her sense of empowerment. These experiences served as a foundation into Computer Science and into a world of possibilities. The Magic program brought together the ability to solve complex problems using a programmatic approach.
Namitha Benjamin, my daughter's mentor, is an extremely intelligent woman that was her coach and friend. Namitha is patient, caring, and very dedicated to helping students evolve in their full potential.
I highly recommend Magic, and Namitha, to new students that are interested in learning about computer science. There is no challenge this wonderful program can't help solve for motivated students.
Congratulations on a job very well done to all mentees and mentors!
Presentations are unbelievably good it is amazing how much progress they made in an year. It is good to see creativity & innovation in the projects these girls have exhibited in their projects with the help of mentors.
Thankyou so much for Ira & co for providing such an amazing experience for my daughter MAGIC did magic on my daughter and turned her thought process. She was a bit shy and hesitatnt about the program in the beginning but with Bobbys amazing mentoring she turned herself into completely a different girl.
She had a very good time working with Bobby through out the year. Bobby is very patient, brilliant, encouraging and hardworking mentor we can't ask anything more from her. We hope to have Bobby as her mentor next year as well. Thankyou Bobby for putting yourself into the program to help our daughter. We all really appreciate it.
Thankyou for Aparna, Deepa and all for coordinating today's presentations they were pretty smooth and we all had a really good time in presentations, dinner and chatting with you all. We came to know more and get connected with mentors and other like minded parents. Hope to keep in touch with you all and see you again next year.
I am the Computer Science department chair and MAGIC coordinator for my school, the Girls' Middle School in Palo Alto, CA. At this point, MAGIC has matched nearly 50 young women from my school with female mentors who share their STEM interests. What a gift to those girls! The value of the 1-to-1 mentorships cannot be overstated. Though our school already has a strong math, science, and technology focus, this program has given an extra boost to girls who have a hunger to 'go deeper' and who crave the specialized knowledge that a professional in the field has to offer. Year after year, I see our MAGIC students thrive on the relationships they build through the program and develop technical talents beyond what could usually be expected from a middle schooler. The individualized direct support of programs like MAGIC is the best way overcome the sense of exclusion from the STEM fields that so many women feel. Hooray to the uniformly excellent MAGIC volunteers (and MAGIC's dedicated founder, Ira Pramanick) for addressing a critical need and helping to cultivate our next generation of technical leaders.
