Go, Girl!


	At the Girl Games office, girls surf the Net. "We have girls who come in and say, 'We don't even know how to spell Internet,' " says founder Laura Groppe. "Three visits later they're bumping us off computers to surf." (Photograph by Larry C. Price)

ading through the swamp of computer games and other programs targeted at teenagers, Laura Groppe noticed that one focus was missing: girls.

"It hit me pretty hard," Laura says. "There's really nothing encouraging girls in particular to use the technology."

So Laura founded Girl Games, an Austin, Texas-based software development group that publishes a Web page, an online mentoring service, and the Girls InterWire newsletter -- all focused on helping young women become comfortable with technology. Laura believes that whether they want to be artists, bankers, or computer scientists, girls need role models, and they need to know how to take advantage of the resources available.

Through the Mentor of the Month program, girls can ask a software programmer if her job is boring, or find out from a chemist what she does all day. When artist Layne Jackson became a Girl Games mentor, she shared her secret: "I can do anything I choose to do, as long as I put my mind to it."

Layne adds, "Lots of girls are shy and afraid to ask questions or voice their opinions, but I find that the Internet gives them the space and the freedom to let their ideas flow."

They met through an online mentoring program sponsored by Girl Games. Now Emma Lawrence visits artist Layne Jackson in her Austin, Texas, studio. (Photograph by Larry C. Price)

http://www.girlgamesinc.com/