I hadn’t spent a lot of time at Hymers College - 2 years were a lot less in comparison to the 12 years I had spent in my old school and yet, leaving the familiar halls and grounds, saying a final goodbye to the well-loved and well-used JCR, and knowing that all of us were soon going to start completely new and consequential chapters of our lives was bittersweet, nonetheless.

Leaving school and starting university is a massive change in all senses - the level of academic rigour is inflated, navigating a new city is daunting, creating a new social group is scary, and leaving home is emotional. And all these changes occurred swiftly; one day I was an A-level student who just received an Academic Distinction award for Computer Science and next, I was enrolled at the University of Liverpool, studying the course I had the honour of receiving the award for while running a society aimed at making girls feel more comfortable in the predominantly male-dominated tech industry.

Expanding upon my previous point, I joined Hymers in Year 12 and before that, not only did I not live in Hull but rather, I wasn’t in the country altogether. I was born and raised in New Delhi, India where I spent 16 years of my life speaking a different language and studying an entirely different curriculum. When I walked into my first computer science A-level lesson, I was aware that I would have to overcome my lack of GCSE background in the subject which would assuredly be a demanding challenge as I simultaneously worked to blend into the routines of my new school. It didn’t help that I was the only girl that had walked into the room and would be the only girl in the classroom until my friend joined a few weeks after. I was hoping that the ratio and dynamic would be different in university with a lot more people enrolled in the course, hence providing a greater opportunity for such diversity but, that is only somewhat the case.

In terms of the societies within the university, we have the provision of attending events organised by CompSoc, a brilliant society that organises social events that have some form of computer-science-focused backing. However, my friends and I were united in the feeling that we weren’t too excited to go to these events given the demographic but would alternatively love an all-girls version of such events. Being part of the select few girls in a group that was largely male-dominated is an experience I’m all too familiar with, since I was one of the only 2 girls undertaking Physics and Computer-Science A-levels back in Hymers. I definitely had motivations derived from repeated personal experiences in joining an all-girls society and that is how ‘Girls in Coding’ was born. We are still a very new society, having been given the green light to become an official society within the university just before Easter but we have been trying to organise meetings every week and plan fun activities for our girls in coding to successfully foster a supportive and empowering all-girls community.

It is said that there is a kind of magicness about going far away and then coming back, all changed. I’m certain this would resonate with all of us, especially when we come back to school and consider all the different ways our lives have changed and all the different destinations we have been led to since transforming from  school-going pupil to an adult in the real world. One year ago, I was in year 13, tirelessly preparing for my A-levels and presently, I’m studying Computer Science at the University of Liverpool while being part of the Girls in Coding society at the university along with my friends. If you told Dhriti in Year 13 that she would be on the front-line of a society dedicated to making tech-community events more comfortable and enjoyable for girls, she would scoff at you through her A-level computer science coursework. And rightfully so, since word has it that all journeys have secret destinations which the traveller is unaware of.

Dhriti Sharma, OH 2021-23