The first ever Pokhara batch of Women Leaders in Technology (WLiT) fellowship graduated on 11/12/2022. It was the most awaited moment of every fellow who gave their utmost dedication to the fellowship. The atmosphere of the auspicious occasion was filled with every kind of emotions
There was happiness in fellows for completing their first ever fellowship, the blissfulness of team members seeing their initiation paying off, pride of parents seeing their children’s progress, and satisfaction of company members seeing their interns’ development triggered the fragrance of emotions and everybody was enjoying it.
The program started with an opening note from Program Officer Eeda Rijal followed by a speech from team members of WLiT. Then came the turn of fellows to share their experience of the fellowship. The first few groups shared their journey of the internship. The respective companies where fellows got their experience as interns were also present there. Other fellows shared their Hour of Code experience which they had conducted in 15 different government schools of Pokhara, the Mentor-Mentee experience, and the last group shared their entire fellowship journey experience.
After the Lunch break, a very informative speech on “sexual harassment” was given by Praposa followed by a session from Safer-I Nepal where Sonika Baniya one of the alumni of WLiT informed about “Data privacy and data collection concerns in social media platforms among emerging adults in Nepal”. Melisa Takeda the Deputy Cultural Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy also shared her experience on her engagement with WLiT and how happy she was seeing the girls progressing in the tech field.
In the end, the entire team celebrated their journey by cutting the cake, and fellows were welcomed as alumni. They were provided with certificates for their outstanding performance throughout the 9 month long fellowship. The moment was very emotional. Every fellow’s eyes were full of tears and so were that of team members. “You all are very special to us and the journey does not end here” said the program officer Eeda Rijal.
Susmita Thapa
WLiT Fellow Pokhara
