Kiara ’17 Wins National Award for Aspirations in Computing

Over her three years at Middlesex, Kiara Wahnschafft has collected a staggering number of accolades for her exceptional work in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). A two-time recipient of the School’s Matthew S. Brown ’03 Award in Computer Science, Kiara has also garnered significant recognition for her performance in public competitions like The Physics Bowl, American Computer Science League Invitational, and the HiMCM Math Modeling competition, where she received the Meritorious Award.

Recently, Kiara has earned her most prestigious accolade to date: The NCWIT (National Center for Women & Information Technology) National Award for Aspirations in Computing. She was one of only 50 students nationwide to earn this honor from a pool of over 3,500 applicants.

As their website explains, “the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing builds a talent pool for the growing technical workforce and helps academic and corporate organizations celebrate diversity in computing by honoring young women at the high-school level for their computing-related achievements and interests. Award recipients are selected based on their aptitude and aspirations in technology and computing; leadership ability; academic history; and plans for post-secondary education.”

Kiara’s superb academic history in STEM made her a compelling candidate for the award, but as her NCWIT profile describes, what distinguishes her most is her leadership and community outreach in the field:

“Kiara has been passionate about using technology to solve important issues that relate to teens like herself, which is why she has co-founded two companies. SafeSide (www.safesidetest.co) is a company that aims to prevent debilitating effects of concussions in athletes through detecting a concussion on the site of an injury via a series of cognitive tests. SafeStart (www.safestartkey.com) aims to minimize driving under the influence, especially in teenagers, through an impaired driving prevention system. Both companies have received several awards (First Regionally in the Technovation Challenge and Congressional App Challenge respectively).”

“Kiara loves teaching technology to younger kids—she has worked as a volunteer at the Boston Museum of Science for over four years, inspiring kids to think like engineers. She has also founded “Bridge the Gap,” an initiative focusing on exposing kids in under-served communities around the world to computer science. She is also a leader at MassCAN (Massachusetts Computing Attainment Network) CS Sparks, a group that aims to spread interest in computer science through outreach events. Kiara has facilitated STEM outreach activities at several events such as the Computer Science Education week at the Museum of Science.”

As part of her award, Kiara also won an all-expense paid trip, provided by Bank of America, to the National Award weekend, which included the National Award Ceremony, March 3-5, 2017 at the Charlotte Marriott City Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Last month, Kiara even received a personal note of congratulations from Senator Ed Markey.