Things just clicked for Mia Jalics when she took her first computer science course.

“It just came to me,” the Utica Center for Mathematics, Science and Technology (UCMST) senior said. “I was good at it, and I liked it.”

Jalics’ interests and her future career path in the field demonstrates why her program and two other UCS schools were honored for increasing the number of females in Advanced Placement (AP) computer science.

UCMST, Stevenson High School and the Gene L. Klida Utica Academy for International Studies (GLK-UAIS) are among 40 Michigan schools receiving AP Computer Science Female Diversity awards by the College Board for achieving equal gender representation during 2023.

Schools receiving the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award have achieved either 50% or higher female exam taker representation in one or both AP computer science courses, or a percentage of female computer science exam takers that meets or exceeds that of the school’s female population.

UCMST was among five in Michigan honored for growing female student enrollment in its AP Science A course. Stevenson and GLK-UAIS were honored for their AP Computer Science Programs.

In the AP Computer Science A course, students focus on computing skills related to Java programming, which cultivates their understanding of coding through analyzing, writing and testing code. AP Computer Science Principles is an introductory college-level computing course that introduces students to the breadth of the field of computer science. Students learn to design and evaluate solutions and apply computer science to solve real-world problems. 

According to College Board research, female students who take AP Computer Science Principles in high school are more than five times as likely to major in computer science in college, compared to similar female students who did not take the course. The study also finds AP Computer Science Principles students are nearly twice as likely to enroll in AP Computer Science A, and that for most students, AP Computer Science Principles serves as a stepping-stone to other advanced AP STEM coursework. 

For Jalics, who also attends Utica High School, the appeal of computer science is that it better fits her learning style.

“I like the problem solving,” she said. 

Jalics recognizes that she is breaking an existing stereotype where more work needs to be done, but she also said her specialty program is unique for its focus on STEM-related fields. 

“It is really the nature of our program,” she said. “Everyone here is pushed to do STEM.”