Lenovo and Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls Teach Kids to Code

Play free games and learn to code at LenovoGameState.com
for chance to win prizes and a scholarship

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Lenovo (HKSE: 0992) (PINK SHEETS: LNVGY) announced today it is working
with Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls on a three-part video series spotlighting
women in technology in support of LenovoGameState.com
– a free, online destination for kids ages 13 and up. The site lets kids
become part of a Code & Play Adventure, powered by Code Combat, where
they can learn to code by playing a game. The more they play and learn,
the more chances they have to win Lenovo
products and a $2,500 scholarship to a coding school or camp.

The first video premiered online today on Smart Girls’ Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
and YouTube
channels. It shares the story of Betty Holberton who worked as one of
the first computer programmers ever for the U.S. during World War II. A
second video spotlighting neuroscientist Dr. Sheila Nirenberg of Cornell
University and her breakthrough work creating sight through neural
coding will debut March 10; and a third video taking viewers inside a
mentoring session between a game designer and teen girls will premiere
later this month.

“Lenovo and Smart Girls both have a passion for using technology to
enable young people to pursue their dreams,” said Meredith Walker,
Co-Founder and Executive Director of Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls,
producers of the three-part video series. “Coding gives you the power to
create just about anything – from games and computers to rockets and
robots – and our goal in producing this video series was to inspire
through the stories of trailblazers in the field.”

According to Girls
Who Code – a national non-profit organization dedicated to closing
the gender gap in technology – by 2020 there will be 1.4 million jobs
available in computing-related fields. Women are on track to fill just
three percent.

Tapping into the STEAM (Science/Technology/Engineering/Arts/Mathematics)
and “Maker” movements, LenovoGameState.com
combines the entertainment of traditional computer games with the
educational benefits of real code development, providing an even playing
field for girls and boys to learn to code at their own pace.

“We build our technology to empower young people to become not just
content consumers, but content creators,” said Ajit Sivadasan, Lenovo
Vice President/General Manager Global eCommerce. “Lenovo is committed to
the STEAM movement in the US and is taking steps through programs like
this to ensure we are invested in helping our young people be motivated
and inspired to look into STEAM-related fields.”

Once kids log-in at LenovoGameState.com
they become immersed in the fun of the game, but they’re actually
spending almost all of their time coding in Python, JavaScript, Lua and
CoffeeScript learning real-world programming languages and skills.

Explains Nick Winter, Co-Founder/CEO of Code Combat: “Kids who become
part of the Code & Play online community at LenovoGameState.com
cover most of the programming concepts from the first two computer
science courses for CS majors from many universities. They may be middle
or high school students, but with game-based learning, they’re motivated
to obtain even higher levels of knowledge.”

LenovoGameState.com
offers 142 levels of Code & Play Adventure that teaches kids to code
while they play their way through three immersive worlds. Starting in Kithgard
Dungeon, the player’s chosen hero has been imprisoned by ogres and
must sneak, puzzle and battle their way out by writing code to control
their hero. Players start out learning programming basics like writing
syntax, calling methods and storing data in variables before moving on
to exploring if-statements, x-y coordinates, Boolean operators and other
coding concepts. The quest continues through the lands of Backwoods
Forest and Sarven Desert where multiplayer arenas give
players a chance to develop their own artificial intelligence code for
their heroes to compete against each other. Watch the Code & Play
Adventure trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBSZe5IuDvI.

About Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls:

Founded by Amy Poehler and Meredith Walker, Smart Girls is dedicated to
providing a healthy alternative to so much that is being marketed to
young people on the Internet. Our motto is: Change the World by
Being Yourself. What began as a web series for young girls and an
excuse to host spontaneous dance parties has become a place for
information, comedy and community. We emphasize intelligence and
imagination over “fitting in.” We celebrate curiosity over gossip. We
are a place where people can truly be their weird and wonderful selves.
We are funny first, and informative second, hosting the party you want
to attend. In 2015, Smart Girls originated the viral social media
campaign #SmartGirlsAsk, an initiative dedicated to elevating the types
of questions asked of celebrities on the red carpet and beyond. Smart
Girls was acquired by Legendary Entertainment in October 2014. Visit amysmartgirls.com
to join the community.

About Lenovo

Lenovo (HKSE: 0992) (PINK SHEETS: LNVGY) is a global Fortune 500 company
and a leader in providing innovative consumer, commercial, and
enterprise technology. Our portfolio of high-quality, secure products
and services covers PCs (including the legendary Think and multimode
YOGA brands), workstations, servers, storage, smart TVs and a family of
mobile products like smartphones (including the Motorola brand), tablets
and apps. Join us on LinkedIn,
follow us on Facebook or
Twitter (@Lenovo)
or visit us at www.lenovo.com.

Contacts

Lenovo
Kristy Fair, 919-257-6329
krisfair@lenovo.com