Villanova recently hosted a TechGirlz startup scenario, during which 26 middle-school girls presented their business ideas and prototypes before a panel of mock funders, writes Esther Yoon for Philadelphia Magazine.

To prepare, the girls had to undergo a week-long TechGirlz entrepreneur summer camp aimed at showing them that tech careers are an option.

According to TechGirlz founder Tracey Welson-Rossman, the gendered state of the labor market represents a big issue for the country’s economy, with girls opting out of tech careers around ninth grade.

That fact has caused the share of new female entrepreneurs to go down from 44 percent to 37 percent over the past two decades. TechGirlz is trying to reverse this trend by engaging girls in different kinds of technology.

In cooperation with business accelerators such as DreamIt Ventures and StartupCorps, TechGirlz creates lessons that help girls, ages 13-15, develop new business ideas in a professional and team environment.

“Women make up 51 percent of the population, and the fact that they don’t consider tech careers hinders the ability of the country to innovate and grow economically,” said Welson-Rossman.

Read more about TechGirlz in Philadelphia Magazine by clicking here.