| | Published November 24th, 2021
| AAUW Virtual Tech Trek Camps a huge Success
| | | Submitted by Jan Cushman |  | | From left, top row: Sophia Bitton, Camille Bradley, Deya Murthy, Helena Linnen; middle row: Isabelle Culinco, Arianna Bustamente, Christophe Davis, Kodie Zundel, Abigail Hui, Emma Wong; bottom row: Beatrice Dean, Audrey Spears, Maryam Kermani, Giorgia Stankus, Rebecca Tanner, Claire Casado (Not shown: Sofia Gomes) Photo Sandy Fox-Sohner |
The 17 enthusiastic eighth- and ninth-grade Lamorinda girls who received scholarships and attended one of three American Association of University Women (AAUW) Virtual Tech Trek camps were honored at a reception in Orinda on Sept. 18. The girls were enthusiastic about their camp experience, which included many hands-on workshops and exposure to women in STEM fields.
If you had two sheets of poster board and a set of equipment including an Arduinos UNO microcontroller and a breadboard, could you design and program a hat to turn on LED lights, use positional and continuous servos to move things and include your values, strengths and interests as well as your team's sustainable goal in your decorations. This is what each of the Tech Trek girls learned to do during the mornings of camp.
After lunch, there were inspirational talks by women in astrophysics, neuroscience, engineering, food/agriscience and climate activism, followed by two hands-on workshops each day, such as "Exploring Water at Its Surface," and "Lights, Waves, and Plasma, Oh My!"
Evenings were spent with presentations including how to prepare yourself in high school to be ready for a STEM major in college and a tour of a Tokamac device being developed to produce thermonuclear fusion power.
Overall, more than 600 girls from 60 AAUW branches in California participated in three separate camps. Over 6,000 different kits were prepared and assembled into nearly 1,000 bags with the workshop supplies. The camps were made possible by volunteers from branches across the state with the support of Qualcomm and donations from branch and community members. |
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA