My Story
My first major introduction to engineering was through my high school robotics team. As the only programmer for my team, I was tasked with writing the code for a functioning robot. From the code to make the wheels move forward at maximum speed to shooting a ball, it made me realize that my code has the ability to change something in reality.
I began to immerse myself in various STEM opportunities and began teaching robotics workshops at the GATE program of my local elementary school. I also discovered a nonprofit organization called MetaCoders that focused on teaching computer science to elementary school students, I decided to volunteer as a coach and curriculum-maker. On weekdays, besides teaching, I also created a python curriculum for the students.
My participation as a teacher at my local elementary school and coach at MetaCoders ultimately inspired me to continue pursuing my passion for STEM education among youth.
My Project
For my camp, “Introduction to Engineering”, I am planning to introduce five engineering disciplines to girls in 3rd to 5th grade. Each day of camp will be 2 hours that allows the students to explore civil, chemical, mechanical, computer, and electrical engineering. The first 30 minutes will be an interactive presentation that will provide the students an insight to that particular engineering discipline, followed by a 1 hour 30 minutes activity. Through the camp, the students will be participating in enjoyable activities, but will also be enhancing skills in logical and critical thinking, problem solving, and perseverance. In addition, the girls will be given insight on each of the 5 engineering disciplines and gain the confidence that they too, can pursue a passion in engineering.