 | | | Back row: Madeleine Termondt, Michelle Chen, Nicole Hui, Eden Hall; front row: Angela Kohr, Bella Stratford, Zoe Seaman Photo Jan Cushman | | | | | | The seven enthusiastic eighth-grade girls who attended AAUW (American Association of University Women) Tech Trek camp at Stanford in July were honored at a reunion and reception hosted by the Orinda-Moraga-Lafayette branch of AAUW on Sept. 6. Eden Hall, Bella Stratford and Madeleine Termondt from Stanley Middle School, Nicole Hui and Angela Kohr from Orinda Intermediate School and Zoe Seaman and Michelle Shen from Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School shared their experiences with AAUW-OML members and parents. The girls were delighted with their special experiences bonding with "like-minded girls" who love science and math and seeing their future in a variety of possible STEM careers. Molly Mudgett, a former 2013 Tech Trekker and three-time camp counselor, joined the reunion. She is studying engineering at Northwestern.
This year, core classes at camp included App Developer and Cyber Sleuthing, as well as marine biology, forensics, and engineering. At camp, the girls took apart computers and servers, dissected fish, learned the physics of hand-made cars and built and programmed robots. They went on field trips to Symantec, a marsh, Knightscope and the Santa Clara County Crime Lab. They stayed up to midnight looking through a variety of telescopes, talking with engaging amateur astronomers and observing Saturn, the moons of Jupiter, nebulae and the International Space Station. They "speed dated" to learn about the STEM careers of 10 professional women. They learned about structural engineering and built structures using rolled up newspapers. They learned to solder and made flashlights. And much more.
AAUW-OML members Gail Chesler, Sara Lautenbach and Jan Cushman were dorm moms at camp. |
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA