Thirty to one. 

That is the ratio senior Kezia Sunil stared at when she stepped into the room for the first time. It was not new — by now, it was something she was used to — but it still stung. A club of 30 students gathered to learn, create and discuss computer science, and she was the only girl. 

Kezia is the captain of the Steel Wings — one of the school’s two robotics teams — and among one of the four girls in the program. 

“Opportunities aren’t always there for me, so I have to work hard,” Kezia said. “If the door isn’t open, then I have to shove it open. If one person takes one step, then I have to take 20. If women can’t be recognized until they’re extraordinary, then I’ll be extraordinary.” 

The first time she interacted with programming, Kezia said she instantly fell in love. She was in fifth grade, and she had to create a business for a project. Her dad would complain about problems with real estate, so she designed an app to help him. 

“[The app] didn’t work very well, but it did what it was supposed to do,” Kezia said. “It was really cool. To me, coding is a bridge to solutions from your problems. It solves a lot for you.” 

As she got older, Kezia began pursuing clubs and programs related to computer science through the school and the community. She taught herself to code through YouTube videos. But, in every program, she ran into the same 30-to-one ratio: she was always one of the only girls. 

“You care in ways that you don’t notice,” Kezia said. “I told myself I was fine being the only girl, but I would always question myself. I would doubt myself and doubt my programming because I was the only one in there who looked like me.” 

In her junior year, the school started a robotics class. Kezia went to the first meeting and tried out for the team, but was denied due to her lack of computer science classes at the school and not enough slots on the 15-person team. 

“It hurt,” Kezia said. “It was definitely an ego hit, because it was the thing that I wanted to go into. It was the thing that I was falling in love with, and I couldn’t even pursue it in high school.” 

Being denied didn’t stop her from coming by the room after school to ask questions and taking AP computer science the following semester. In that class, she heard one of her classmates being asked to join the team — to fill a spot she was told was already booked. 

“It clicked in that moment that I would never look like the ‘stereotypical engineer,’” Kezia said. “Wearing makeup set me apart. Being vocal set me apart. People thought I didn’t care about robotics, but I do.” 

She asked to join the team again, and, when there was still not enough space, she began working on the logistics behind the program. 

“She gave [the team] structure,” robotics teacher Stan Feighny said. “It may not always be perfect, but it was a system in a place that needed a system. It made the program stronger.”

At the end of the school year, her virtual design teacher showed her a flyer for women in STEM — more specifically, for coding. It was a paid internship through Citibank. But even though she was helping the robotics team, Kezia said she still doubted her abilities due to not being officially in the program. 

This is impossible, she thought. How can I even get into this if I couldn’t make it onto my high school robotics team?

Three interviews later, she got the internship.

For two days, Kezia sat with the other interns through 10-hour lectures to learn four different coding languages. Then, they were each tasked with building a website and presenting it. Kezia said it was the first time she has been outside the minority of programmers. 

“It wasn’t just about the learning,” Kezia said. “The community was just as important. For the first time ever, I was surrounded by people who were as passionate as I was about programming. It was no longer 30-to-1.” 

As she came back to school this year, she was told of a second robotics team and offered one of the slots. She became the captain a few weeks later.

“The biggest shortage we have in the technical fields is leadership,” Feighny said. “There are some brilliant people, but few of them are willing to step up and lead. That’s something Kezia excels at.”

In their first competition, the Steel Wings took fifth place overall, beating Hebron Robotics by eleven places and taking the highest score of the morning. Sophomore Sohail Ahmed said a large part of the victory came from Kezia. 

“She keeps us optimistic,” Ahmed said. “Whether things are going well or not, she’ll tell us that we have to stick with it. She always reminds us that we can do this, which helps us keep going and keep pushing. That’s the way we can win.”

Kezia plans to continue pursuing coding, a field made up of only 23% females. For now, she said her goal is to make it to state with the Steel Wings and help other girls interested in coding.  

“You can always learn,” Kezia said. “I’ll find a place for everyone — regardless of gender — that wants to join the team. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that everyone deserves a chance.” 

This story was originally published on The Hawk Eye on December 17, 2024.