It's a Wrap: 2015 Girl Genius STEMfest

On Saturday March 21^st the fourth annual Girl Genius STEMfest was held at Texas State Technical College for a day filled with hands-on, minds-on experiences for girls’ grades 6-12^th to better their minds with STEM careers. This year was especially exciting because of the great partnerships with not one college in the area but three!  We partnered with Baylor University for the second time and for the first time McLennan Community College, all three colleges provided support to make the event possible by providing volunteers, workshop instructors, and college swag.

 “The STEMfest was an incredible event this year and I had a great time!  I participated in “Bubble Pack” which was about medicine, “Are You My Blood Type?” which was about blood types, ”Fossils and Chocolate” which I loved, and “Water you waiting for” which was all about water pollution.  I learned all about medicine and how they packed it, I learned how you get your blood type from your parents, and I learned about the different types of rocks and fossils.  I will definitely be returning so that I can learn some other cool new things, meet more new people, and go on new adventures on campus.  Walking around the school was cool because it gets us to understand what walking around college might be like.  My most favorite part though was the fossils and chocolate because I have a passion for all kinds of rocks.” -Ravyn Dietzman, Girl Scout Cadette

Our goal was to reach 175 girls this year at Girl Genius and we not only achieved our goal, we exceeded our goal by having 183 girls attend this year.  The girls participated in a full-day conference that was designed to allow fun, hand on experiences in a real lab setting in various STEM fields taught by college instructors.  Much like a professional conference that adults attend, the girls registered and chose their own workshops.  Workshops covered an array of diverse STEM fields from welding, automotive mechanics, pharmaceutical technology, biology, geology, engineering, veterinarian technology and more.  Girls were able to practice “blister packing, “which is the method pharmacist use to package medication.  Girls learned that surgical technology is more than just what the TV shows portray in the “This Ain’t Grey's Anatomy” workshop, and mastered the art of circuits by powering LED lights through conductive and insulated play dough. 

“I am very grateful to Time Warner Cable and the Girl Scouts of Central Texas for making such a wonderful event possible.  Girls having a great time and learning so much in the process is a winning combination!  We are certainly looking forward to next year!”  -Melissa Dietzman, Girl Scout Volunteer

This event would not have been possible without the generous support from Time Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds initiative, which is an initiative to address America’s declining proficiency in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), which puts our children at risk for not competing successfully in a global economy. Thank you Time Warner Cable! 

Transformation Tuesday: Made With Code

Guest post from Sarah Y., Gold Girl Scout and intern at GSCTX. Her intern challenge? To get GSCTX girls interested, involved and inspired with computer coding. You can follow her internship at her blog, Journeys to the Summit 

Its Transformation Tuesday!

It was actually a couple days ago that my mom and I were talking about how you can tell just how old a piece of technology is just by its thickness.A computer, a phone, TV's,  movies (VHS vs. DVD), music (cassettes vs. CD's).

                                                                      

And along with these advances in... size, came the advancement in how they work. I see this advancement every second and fourth Friday of every month when I work with my Made w/Code girls. Coding and programming have come a long way and I am so glad that I get to help the next generation get ready to make the next big advancement!

I would love to talk to your troop, youth group, club, and/or school about the Made w/Code project. If you're at all interested, please contact me at sarah@discovergreenyel.org

Ready to code? Start now!

Until then, Happy coding!

Yours in coding,

Sarah Y.

Meet the Staff: Debbe Tipping, Tech Girls Program Coordinator

I joined Girl Scouts in Fort Collins, Colorado when I was in first grade— the youngest you could join at the time. When I moved to Eau Claire, Wisconsin I wanted to join again but there were no Girl Scouts for my second grade year. I joined again in third grade. When my family moved to Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, I moved to a troop in that area. In fact, my mom and my dad were my troop leaders. I continued to register as a Girl Scout through twelfth grade and several years beyond.

The most important part of Girl Scouts for me was camp. In my case that was Camp Black Hawk in northern Wisconsin. Being the child of divorce and joint custody, camp was the only place I could be me and not accidentally say something about Mom at Dad’s or viceversa. I attended camp six years in a row thanks to Financial Partnerships. I attended two years as a Junior Explorer for one week camps then jumped to the two week camps. I learned to canoe in Canoe Post, sail in Windjammers, develop black and white negatives and photos in Shutterbug, and how to windsurf and kayak in Solo Craft Challengers. I was able to attend camp two years as an adult for Women’s Week. There I perfected my windsurfing. I finally figured out how to turn the windsurf board. It was getting a little old sailing across the lake, jumping off, turning the board, then doing it all over again. I never did figure out how to do an Eskimo roll with a kayak, though. I always ended up upside down underwater and had to pull the skirt so I could swim up and breathe.

I accidentally became my high school’s first female photographer for the school newspaper and yearbook when I learned how to develop black and white film at camp.  I didn't think anything of volunteering to take pictures my freshman year. After I started taking pictures at sporting events and school functions everyone treated me really strangely. It was the mid-1980's. Being a female in a non-traditional role should not be so strange. I felt like I time warped back to the 50's!

I came back to Girl Scouts in 2001 as an adult without a daughter. I had just moved to Denton, Texas and was looking for something to do. I called the local council in February and offered to volunteer. I could practically hear the person I talked to doing cartwheels down the hallway because she was so happy to have a volunteer. This was a small council. Girl Scouts started in the 1950s in Denton and there were very few leaders who had been Girl Scouts as girls. I was a third generation Girl Scout leader with my parents and grandma being leaders for their daughters. I was an oddity. Because I started Girl Scouts at a strange time of the year, the assistant CEO went through my initial training with me one-on-one! I started my troop with girls from the neighborhood I lived in and we met in my house while the troop was small.

My training as an adult was eye opening. The Girl Scout Promise had changed slightly from the time I said it as a girl. I attended outdoor training and learned it was OK to use paper plates instead of washing so many dishes. Also, no one knew that a dribble bucket was for washing hands; studio 2B was new. The badges were similar as badges when I was a girl. I saw how parts of Girl Scouts ware new but most of it was the same as it had been when I was a girl. The new parts didn't bother me—they were geared toward what girls like now, rather than what they liked years ago. 

When I moved to Round Rock, I again joined Girl Scouts as a volunteer. I took over a troop that had been dormant for eight months. Two years later I was asked to become a service unit director. Two years after that I accepted a position as a Membership Development Executive at Girl Scouts of Central Texas. At GSCTX I have also been the Programs Department Administrative Assistant, and began a program called Tech Girls.

I continue as the Tech Girls Program Coordinator. Tech Girls is a customized program that serves girls from 6th-12th grade in low-income schools in the greater Austin area as grant funding permits. Tech Girls gives the girls opportunities to have hands-on experiences with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and learn about STEM careers. The very best part about Tech Girls is that is uses Girl Scouts and STEM, my two loves, to give girls confidence in school. Anytime a girl can gain confidence in school only great things happen in her community! This fall I started teaching the Lego Robotics program and Coder Girls Explorers in the Edge in Austin to help our very busy STEM Program Manager, Mitchell Whittier, provide great STEM experiences to girls.

As a volunteer, I met a shop volunteer who had an 80 on her membership tab. I hope I can remain a part of Girl Scouts until I reach my 80th year as a Girl Scout. Imagine what great things girls will be doing then!

Girl Feature: Allison Rich and the Lady Cans

Girl Scout Alumnae Allison Rich was recently honored by the Crockrell School of Engineering Women in Engineering Program (WEP) at the University of Texas (UT).  The UT mechanical engineering student has had a strong connection to STEM related studies ever since she was in GSCTX’s first Lady Cans robotics team, which was only one of the two teams in the nation. This pioneering Girl Scout started lady cans in the pursuit of more engineering programs for Girl Scouts. She began with little knowledge about engineering, but soon learned everything from using a hand drill to labVIEW. Allison’s first Lady Cans completion robot won the Rookie Inspiration Award at the Lone Star Regional. 

Allison has gone on and furthered her education at UT’s Crockrell School of Engineering. Allison’s receiving of the WEP Mechanical Engineering is an incredible honor and we are very proud of her. With GSCTX’s STEM program we know that our Girl Scouts can and will change the world of tech.