Julie Stevens, a senior at Juanita High School in Kirkland, was one of nine female students from around the United States invited by Google to attend the National Christmas Tree Lighting in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 4. Google launched a new initiative in June 2014 called “Made With Code.” Its goal is to get more girls interested in computer science careers. As a part of this effort, Made with Code partnered with the National Park Foundation to invite aspiring female coders to help with the National Christmas Tree Lighting in President’s Park at the White House.

Starting on Dec. 2, girls around the country were encouraged to go to Made With Code’s website. There, they could use a beginner programming language called Blockly to build code that would animate the lights used to decorate President’s Park for the National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. The programmed lights were then live-streamed during the 92nd annual National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony aired on PBS.

One of Stevens’s teachers nominated her to attend this event in partnership with Google. While Stevens took her first computer science class last year, she has been interested in the computer science field for a while.

“I am interested in cybersecurity or information security,” Stevens said. “By attending this event with Made With Code, I learned there are so many uses for programming that I hadn’t even thought of before. I look forward to my challenging road ahead of becoming a computer programmer.”

Stevens had the chance to meet other female students from around the country who share similar interests. She also met Danielle Feinberg, director of photography for Pixar Animation Studios.

“Danielle told us to never give up and to pursue what we love, even if it is hard,” Stevens said. “She showed me that hard work and believing in myself are the only tools I need to pursue my dream of becoming a computer programmer.”