All girls camp to boost interest in STEM

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - Over the course of two days a classroom of young ladies will learn introductory skills that are the foundation for the future of their possible engineering careers.

“These girls are learning the basics of math and science physics, for example, the comfort, conservation of energy, how energy changes forms, for example, we just conducted an egg drop,” said Lane Woodrich, a mechanical engineering student that was selected to help co-teach at Eureka! McConnell Science Museum’s engineering camp.

Students spent over an hour carefully creating their designs, trading with their classmates for various resources and problem solving for different situations.

When it came time, everyone was excited for the drop. And surprisingly, zero eggs were harmed during this project.

“In our approach, the most important thing was we wanted everything to be fun. Math and science was the second takeaway. The girls made it so easy,” said Woodrich.

Why a girls only camp?

“Growing up, it was men fix things, men build things. Well, this camp makes them more accessible and gets rid of that stigma where it’s the boys who do the physical labor,” said Chantelle Hobbs, an electrical and computer engineering student, also co-teaching the camp.

The most recent gender equity report for Colorado’s STEM industries says women are 46% of the total workforce. However, less than a third are employed in STEM fields. Purdue University says exposing kids to STEM early on in education increases their chance of pursuing a STEM career.

CU Boulder engineering department is dedicated to sharing STEM across Colorado with their partnership program based at CMU. The museum employs engineering students who wish to share their knowledge with the community.

If you have interest in upcoming camps, follow this link: Summer Camps.

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