Girl Scouts Venture into Engineering with Week Long Camp

Certain professions and fields of study have historically been dominated by men, science for instance. The Girl Scouts of West Central Florida, however, have taken it upon themselves to work toward changing the professional landscape through their Mind for Design camp.

Educators have found through various studies that young girls begin to inexplicably move away from science and math disciplines around the fifth grade. The Girl Scouts identified this is as a concern and are working toward reinvigorating girls' passion for the science of engineering in grades 6-12.

"We want to get the girls engaged in activities that will get them thinking about engineering," GSCWF spokeswoman Susan Barnes. "A lot of these girls don't get to normally build a rocket or do some of the things that they're doing here. They're at a great age to inspire them and hopefully some of them will want to continue learning about some of these fields."

The camp's urriculum is part of what the Scouts refer to as STEM, an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The STEM initiative is designed to encourage young girls to enter fields that women are currently under represented in.

Terrie Dodson, communications manager from the Hillsborough County School District, believes that what the Girl Scouts are doing, combined with the initiatives such as the county's new all-girls school, the Ferrell Girls Preparatory Academy, young girls may begin to develop in ways that they can't with boys around.

"It's an issue nationally, and I'm interested to see if girls behave a little bit differently without the distraction of boys around," Dodson said. "Some of the girls have said that boys act goofy when it comes to working on something in class and it becomes distracting. Also, at this age they start looking at each other differently and obviously that has an effect but girls are often more patient and work differently without boys."

During this week's activities, campers were visited by guest lecturers, went on field trips to places like the University of South Florida and learned about engineering through building catapults and rockets.

On Tuesday, the camp was visited by female engineers from a Tampa-based firm that is working on sewage treatment techniques and potable water distribution. On Wednesday, it was representatives of NASA paying a visit to the classroom, showing women working in exciting and innovative fields.

"They've been learning about design and how to make these things that they have to build work," class instructor Trisha Hemenway said. "So far they really seem to enjoy this hands on aspect. They like building something they didn't know they could before and they're asking a lot of great questions for our guest speakers who are mostly women in fields that the girls find fascinating."

Hemingway says the classes have been received well and that the girls are relishing the opportunity to do something different with their summer. Madison Sheets, 11, echoed her teacher's sentiment but for different reasons than an alternate summer activity.

"My father is an engineer so it's cool to have something to share with him," Sheets said. "My mom heard about this and thought it would be a good idea for me. It's been fun because I'm learning some new things every day."

For more information about the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida and their camps, visit gswcf.org.