National television special honors UCS senior

Utica Community Schools Christina Li uses her passion for technology to increase female participation in the field of computer science in an all-new episode of The HALO Effect, “Hello World,” premiering Friday, May 20, at 8:30 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon.

The episode follows Li as she organizes and instructs a computer science camp for junior high girls in Utica Community Schools. Airing monthly, The HALO Effect highlights teens who “help and lead others” (HALO) in their community and inspire others to do the same. “Hello World” will encore Monday, May 23, at 8:00pm (ET/PT) on Nicktoons and Sunday, May 29, at 9:30pm (ET/PT) on TeenNick.

Li’s interest in coding started in the third grade when she picked up a copy of HTML for Dummies and began building websites for fun. Falling in love with tech and being a natural, Li joined her school’s Robotics Club and participated in numerous summer tech programs to advance her learning.

During a computer science summer class, she noticed that most of the students were males and there was only one other girl besides herself. Looking to close the gender gap in the tech world, Li created Hello World, a computer science day camp specifically for young girls. The camp aims to teach programing code, web development, app and game design and robotics through fun and immersive workshops.

In recognition of her outstanding leadership and encouragement, Nickelodeon will award a $10,000 grant to Li’s camp.

In each episode of The HALO Effect, the profiled teen will issue a “HALO Effect Challenge,” a call-to-action encouraging inspired viewers to participate in their cause and join the HALO movement. As part of Li’s “HALO Effect Challenge,” she is encouraging everyone to post a photo of their best emoji face or share a screenshot of them completing three levels of a coding game using #HALOEffectChallenge. For more information on Li and her challenge, viewers can visit www.nick.com/haloeffect.