The model and entrepreneur Karlie Kloss celebrated the 10-year anniversary of her “Kode With Klossy,” the nonprofit that encourages female teenagers to learn computer coding, with an event in her hometown of St. Louis.

At the age of 15 while building her fashion career, Kloss met some tech company founders, and enrolled in a two-week coding bootcamp in New York City to try to better understand the technology behind their businesses. The realization that there were only men in the classroom sparked another idea.

Kloss marked the milestone with an event in her hometown earlier this month at Energizer Park’s Ultra Club. The 32-year-old started the initiative to encourage more young women between the ages of 13 and 18 to get involved in the field of technology. To date, more than 11,000 scholars from 99 countries have participated in the technology-focused camps, with 78 percent of the alumnae in the U.S. having either majored or minored in college in computer science or engineering. The current percentage of women, who graduate with bachelor degrees in computer science in the U.S., is about 21.5.

She headlined the event with Enterprise Mobility president and chief executive officer Chrissy Taylor at Energizer Park. More than 150 people turned up at the ticketed event, which supports underwriting for KWK programming.

During her remarks, Kloss announced plans for a “City of the Future,” a multiyear plan to create year-round, local programming for KWK scholars and alumni in St. Louis. That programming is being executed with partners like World Wide Technology to help lead St. Louis community scholars to career opportunities in tech. That will involve collaborating with local high schools, colleges, youth organizations and civic leaders.

Kloss’ hometown visit coincided with the May 14 tornado that resulted in five deaths and more than 38 people being injured in the St. Louis area and western Illinois. Approximately 5,000 structures were damaged and the estimated property damage exceeded $1.6 billion.

Kloss and a few of her relatives had reportedly dropped off donations at the O’Fallon Park YMCA in northern St. Louis for victims of the calamity. Before the evening’s toast, she struck a more serious note by pledging her support to the St. Louis Community Foundation Tornado Response Fund to help provide relief services and invest in the long-range rebuilding of the city. (Another local designer Leonard Stewart Jr. will hold a trunk show on Saturday to raise money to help rebuild his neighborhood in north St. Louis.)

Kloss’ portfolio of numerous investments include a fashion tech firm Bods and the blockchain-enabled AI-powered fashion start-up MmErch. She and her Thrive Capital founder husband Josh Kushner started the media holding company Bedford Media, which houses Life magazine, iD and other properties. A self-described “proud nerd,” Kloss told the St. Louis crowd, “Long before I was on the cover of Vogue, I fell in love with science at Webster Groves High School and thought I’d follow in my dad’s footsteps and become a doctor.”

The Saint Louis Fashion Fund’s executive director Becky Domyan and her predecessor Susan Sherman asked the fashion designer behind the Q Ambition label, who is known as “Q,” to make a custom St. Louis “SC” jacket for Kloss as a nod to the city’s professional soccer team that plays at Energizer Park. The NFL’s Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs is among the top-ranked athletes that favor Q Ambition designs.

Separately, applicants have until 5 p.m. on June 15 to apply for the Susan Sherman Fashion Scholarship. Named in honor of the organization’s former leader, the $5,000 scholarships are being awarded for Fashion Design, Fashon Merchandising, Fashion Entrepreneurships and Creatives. To be eligible, undergrads need to maintain a GPA of 2.5 or above at a Missouri state college or university. Winners will be announced on July 31 at the fund’s “Fashion Futures” event.