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Let's launch, ladies

| June 15, 2018 1:00 AM

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Chris Vieira, development executive for higher education in the Pacific Northwest at Apple, Inc., describes one of his favorite apps Thursday evening during the launch of Coeur d'Alene's new all-female tech team. The team comprises about 20 ladies of all skills and backgrounds who will explore app development as they enrich their tech knowledge and navigate Apple's Swift program. (DEVIN WEEKS/Press)

By DEVIN WEEKS

Staff Writer

COEUR d’ALENE — Their backgrounds vary from finance and business management to architecture and criminal justice.

Their passions include education, humanitarian work, art, raising families, skiing, gardening and computer programming.

Together, these diverse individuals comprise Coeur d'Alene's promising new all-female technology team.

"As a former educator, this is the perfect recipe right here," said Chris Vieira, development executive for higher education in the Pacific Northwest at Apple, Inc. "One area where we are sorely lacking in diversity is gender diversity in the technology sector. I'm really inspired to see this."

Vieira and colleagues visited Gizmo-CDA at North Idaho College during the all-female tech team's launch Thursday evening to congratulate and encourage the approximately 20 ladies who will be participating in the yearlong project.

"I see lots of women who are interested in knowing about coding but not necessarily making it their life’s work," said program mentor and Gizmo co-founder Barb Mueller. "I see other people who have always thought they'd want to be coders, and this is a way for them to do that."

The female tech team is a part of Inspire Idaho, a collaboration of University of Idaho and the Innovation Collective, to reform higher education and provide free training so people of all skill levels can explore the world of technology and enrich their lives.

This year's classes are focused on app development to help Idaho and its citizens become a part of the current "app economy" and get in on the massive revenue this economy is already generating.

"We're going to get people going on these technologies and we're going to start to grab some of that hundred billion dollars that Apple has paid out to developers since the app store opened," said University of Idaho Associate Vice President Dr. Charles Buck. "I don't think enough of that has come to Idaho. That's what this is about, it's giving us all this computer literacy so we can be competitive and we can be tuned into the future."

The ladies will be meeting about once a week as they work through Apple's versatile Swift program, which has countless possibilities in the world of coding and writing software.

"We are so excited at Apple about this and we can't wait to see what comes out of this, what types of learning," Vieira said. "This is very, very exciting for us. The app economy is just exploding."

"I have five apps in my head right now," said program participant Lacey Tabaracci of Coeur d'Alene. "I just need to know how to get them out."

Elizabeth Earin of Coeur d'Alene is a mother of two who has been eagerly looking forward to the sessions to do something productive for herself as well as her family.

"I'm at that point where I've lost myself, and this is the shining light, something for me to focus on," she said. "I'm so excited, I was a kid in a candy store excited for the first day."

Info: www.inspireidaho.com