; Whereas, in 1953, Grace Hopper was the first person to theorize code as words instead of symbols, which was considered impossible by her peers, and after 3 years her team was using the first written-word programming language; Whereas the development of a written-word programming language was an incredibly important step in the development of computer science, as it allowed people who lacked advanced engineering and mathematics backgrounds to program computers; Whereas, in 1959, Grace Hopper organized leaders from government, the private sector, and academia to create a universal business computer programming language called common business-oriented language , or COBOL ; Whereas, in 2018, COBOL supports over 30,000,000,000 transactions per day and 90 percent of all global financial transactions; Whereas throughout her work in the private sector, Grace Hopper remained a naval reservist until the age of 60, calling her required retirement from the Naval Reserve the saddest day of my life ; Whereas, just a few months after her retirement from the Naval Reserve, Amazing Grace was called again to the Navy for active service, where she would serve for another 19 years until her final military retirement as Rear Admiral of the Navy at the age of 79; Whereas Grace Hopper has received many honors for her groundbreaking ideas and contributions over the years, including becoming the first inductee to the Computer Hall of Fame, receiving the U.S. National Medal of Technology, the naming of the destroyer USS Hopper in her honor, and receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom; Whereas, of all of the contributions and service of Grace Hopper, she considered her work as a mentor and teacher the most valuable; Whereas Grace Hopper once remarked that If you ask me what accomplishment I’m most proud of, the answer would be all the young people I've trained over the years ; Whereas, today the Grace Hopper Celebration is the largest gathering of women in computing with 18,000 attendees in 2017