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Velascos own high school had no computers. And her own struggles in becoming an electronics engineer working in IT in Colombia has made her a champion for girls.

I was the only woman in technology in my university, you know? So that's something that I want to demonstrate to my girls here that they can do it no matter what.

Junior Ochoa said having a woman teacher does help.

Having a teacher with the same gender as you, it helps you connect better with them, she said. I think it really helps.

Nguyen, also a junior, agrees.

Its easier to talk to them because you feel like if you can do it, we can do it at the same time.

At the same time, the class taught her that gender doesnt have anything to do with competency.

If youre smart, then you're going to do good. It doesn't depend on your gender, it doesn't affect you at all.

But for any student, AP computer science can be hard at times. Super frustrating, especially when theres a bug in the code.

The three said they sometimes questioned whether they wanted to be there. Its challenging, when a problem pops up, whats causing that, how to solve it, and thinking of a solution for it not to happen in the future, Ochoa said.

Senior Kabeya has another method when she gets stuck.

You cry for two minutes, she laughed. There's absolutely nothing wrong with crying. It really helped me get through this class!

Kabeya said she returns refreshed and ready to tackle the problem.

Nguyen said for her app project, it took her 10 days to pick a topic and a month to do the code. But she learned persistence, something all three girls will need for the big futures they have planned.

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Girls are cracking code and breaking stereotypes in this Denver high school's AP computer science class - Colorado Public Radio