Campus Highlight: Athena Digital Design Agency

One of the more unique student employment opportunities is housed in the Athena Center for Leadership Studies. The Center is home to the Athena Digital Design Agency (ADDA), a student-run organization that teaches students to code and build websites and hires trained students to build websites for clients. 

The ADDA is split into 3 branches, the Academy, the Agency, and the Student Advisory Board. The Academy offers free 8-10 week courses every fall and spring to Barnard students. The courses cover HTML/CSS basics, JavaScript, and web development design. Their into classes require no background experience in coding and are perfect for student who are interested in coding but have never learned it before. By the end of the course, students are able to build and customize their own websites.  

Once a student has finished the Academy, they can join the Agency. The Agency is a student-run business that connects students with local businesses and organizations that hire the Agency to build websites for them. The Agency runs regular workshops throughout the year so their coders can stay up-to-date on their skills and learn coding techniques. Students are paid for the work they do at the Agency and are able to build a portfolio of all the work they’ve done.  

Those in the Agency looking for leadership opportunities can join the Student Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB runs the Agency and Academy and enable students to have experiences in leadership and running a business. 

An amazing part of the ADDA is it’s inclusivity. The ADDA welcomes students from all majors in backgrounds with no knowledge of computer science necessary. The ADDA takes the goal of Barnard and applies to computers – to educate and empower women from all backgrounds and skill levels to succeed in coding and web design.