CARISA SHAH
UNITED STATES, 17
Project: CyberSensibility
Basic Human Needs: Education, Health, Safety
As a participant in the 2016 White House Summit on the United State of Women, Carisa learned that cyber-bullying was a major problem with devastating psychological effects on girls, often dissuading them from pursuing STEM. Upon realizing that while most students use the Internet daily, many schools do not have programs that teach Internet safety, she created CyberSensibility. CyberSensibility is a free Internet safety curriculum that provides modules, videos and worksheets to combat cyber-bullying and bridge the gender gap in STEM. The curriculum has been used in summer camps and schools across the country, reaching more than 650 students. Carisa hopes CyberSensibility will decrease the high percentage of young people bullied online, and the large number of girls with low confidence and fear of leadership roles as a result. She wants other girls to experience the confidence and empowerment computer science has given her, which is often discouraged by online behavior. Carisa is expanding the number of schools across the United States that use the curriculum with the goal that CyberSensibility is used in every school across the nation.