My Story
I have always found myself interested in STEM subjects. I attended a STEM-focused middle school, which allowed me to further explore the STEM field and through that exploration my interest in engineering was sparked. Because of my continued STEM interest, I have participated in many different STEM projects. In 8th grade, I competed in the national Exploravision competition where I was able to earn honorable mention on my research on the application of polymers to protecting automobiles during mass flooding events. I was also in the Future Science Leaders program at the Ithaca Sciencenter, which was a volunteer position for middle schoolers that taught us how to lead Sciencenter guests through interactive STEM activities and animal experiences. Currently, I am a part of the same program as a high school mentor. In this role, I work with middle schoolers on how to teach STEM curriculum to Sciencenter guests. Yet, the opportunity that has given me the most insight and information about engineering is my participation in the Project Lead the Way courses offered at my high school. These classes focus on allowing students to explore and learn about different aspects of engineering during the school day and develop the skills that are essential to the engineering process.
My Project
For the past four years, I have been involved in the Ithaca Sciencenter as a program participant, volunteer, youth employee, and mentor for young learners engaging with STEM. The Sciencenter is an interactive museum and play space in my city that serves over 100,000 guests each year. My EngineerGirl project is focused on developing a camp program that will run in partnership with the Ithaca Sciencenter for a week next summer (2021). The camp will be targeted towards girls going into 2nd through 6th grade. They will be led through a week-long curriculum based around the careers and discoveries of women in engineering. This curriculum will give elementary girls greater exposure to women in engineering and the types of skills used by engineers. To comply with the current pandemic restrictions, the camp will be virtual and will include both online meetings and personal activities as to not tie the students to their computers all day. This will be done through guided teaching and activities that explore the different facets of engineering and then be followed up by related individual activities. Students will have the opportunity to engage in activities focused on the various fields in engineering: civil, mechanical, electrical, etc. Each day the girls will implement the skills that they explored in the guided session. The curriculum that is developed for this program will be designed in a flexible way so that it can be used in future virtual and in-person camp programs and also for additional programming at the Sciencenter.