Congratulations to Kuri DiFede on being honored with the 2024 National Aspirations in Computing Educator (AiC) Award from the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT). This award identifies outstanding high school educators who play a pivotal role in promoting gender equity in computing and technology.

The impact of Ms. DiFede’s assiduous passion for broadening access to computer science and technology education, especially to underrepresented students, can be felt throughout the classrooms and clubs at Mineola High School. Her efforts to expand the reach and impact of CS programs has been transformative, presenting learners with postsecondary education and career opportunities that they never believed were possible.

As the Teacher Leader for the Computer Science department, Ms. DiFede has been responsible for initiatives that increased accessibility to computer science classes, including cultivating a dual-enrollment 30-credit CS program, developing an asynchronous curriculum and implementing an introductory college-level computing course for all ninth graders. These programs resulted in a dramatic increase in enrollment and diversity.

Outside the classroom, Ms. DiFede founded and actively advises a diverse array of robotics teams and computer science clubs, including the CS Honor Society, Hackathon Team, FIRST Tech Challenge and the FIRST Robotics Competition team. Under her guidance, these clubs have competed at the state and national level and earned awards for innovation and service to the community.

Ms. DiFede received her undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Richmond, master’s in computer science from NYU and earned her certification as a New YorkState Master Teacher in 2023.

Date Added: 3/6/2024