Month: March 2015

at 2015 Girls in STEM Conference

Hanger, Inc. to Showcase Prosthetic Tail, Made Famous in 2011 Feature Film Dolphin Tale, at 2015 Girls in STEM Conference

(AUSTIN) – Girlstart is pleased to announce that Hanger, Inc. will showcase the prosthetic tail and liner it created for Winter — the famous dolphin from the 2011 feature film Dolphin Tale — at this year’s Girls in STEM Conference on Saturday, April 11th.

2015 marks the tenth anniversary of Girlstart’s annual Girls in STEM event, which will be held at Travis High School (1211 E. Oltorf). The conference will bring more than 450 4th-8th grade girls from throughout Central Texas together for hands-on STEM education sessions led by 80 professional women working in STEM fields at Austin-area companies.

Sessions at this year’s conference will give girls the opportunity to perform DNA isolation on strawberries, create an adhesive similar to what’s used in tape, and build a city out of candy, to name just three of the fun, hands-on, creative activities showing girls the range of experiences available in STEM careers. In addition, all the girls will participate in an opening session in which they will create their own prosthetic tails, modeled after the one Hanger created.

“We’re thrilled to be able to involve Hanger, Inc. in this year’s event,” said Julie Shannan, Deputy Director of Girlstart. “The prosthetic tail used by Winter in Dolphin Tale is an amazing technological achievement that also happened to play a role in a movie that many of our students know and love. This conference is all about showing girls what’s possible with STEM to change lives and make the world a better place, and Hanger is allowing us to feature a familiar example of that.”

This conference, part of the Expanding Your Horizons network, is one of the longest-running programs in Girlstart’s ever-expanding array of STEM education programs geared toward girls.

Girlstart, founded in 1997, is the only community-based informal STEM education nonprofit in the nation specifically dedicated to empowering and equipping girls in STEM through year-round programming that promotes girls’ early engagement and academic success in STEM, encourages girls’ aspirations and persistence in STEM education and careers, and incubates a talented and diverse STEM workforce.

For more info about Winter the Dolphin and how the Hanger Clinic (the division of Hanger, Inc., specializing in orthotic and prosthetic services and products) helped outfit her with a prosthetic tail, visit the page about Winter on the Hanger Clinic’s website: www.hangerclinic.com/success-stories/winter-the-dolphin/Pages/default.aspx.

For more info about Girlstart and its Girls in STEM Conference, visit this page on the Girlstart website: www.girlstart.org/our-programs/girls-in-stem-conference.

in advance of SXSW Interactive Hall of Fame Award next Tuesday

Girlstart launches its #GrowGirlstart campaign in advance of SXSW Interactive Hall of Fame Award next Tuesday

(AUSTIN) – Girlstart has launched a brand new campaign, #GrowGirlstart, in advance of Girlstart Executive Director Tamara Hudgins receiving the SXSW Interactive Hall of Fame Award at the festival’s Interactive Innovation Awards next Tuesday evening.

Girlstart has launched the campaign to highlight the upcoming expansion of Girlstart STEM education programs across Texas and across the nation. The campaign asks participants to declare, via social media channels, why they want to help Girlstart expand by using #GrowGirlstart in their posts. The campaign website page, which includes testimonials from young women who are on trajectories toward successful careers via their experiences in Girlstart programs, is viewable at www.girlstart.org/growgirlstart.

The web page for the campaign specifically notes plans for expansion to Dallas, Houston and the Rio Grande Valley, as well as plans for national expansion. Hudgins will make an initial announcement about those plans next Tuesday during the award ceremony, and Girlstart plans to provide regular updates on the organization’s growth. While Girlstart has taken summer programming throughout the nation in recent years, its after-school programming – which has grown to serve more than 1200 students at 50 different schools – is still principally concentrated in the Austin metro area.

“We’re looking forward to another SXSW Interactive Conference, and we’re honored that SXSW is making STEM education for girls part of this year’s conversation via this award,” said Hudgins. “The GrowGirlstart campaign we’ve launched is intended to show that there is a broad show of support for creating STEM education opportunities for girls. By reaching more girls, we have the opportunity to dramatically impact the STEM pipeline, which is how we’ll best achieve bringing more talented women into the STEM professional community.”

In addition to its presence at SXSW Interactive, Girlstart participated in the SXSWEdu Expo earlier this week, geared towards educators and school administrators, and SXSWCreate, geared toward what SXSW terms “hackers and DIYers.”
Girlstart, founded in 1997, is the only community-based informal STEM education nonprofit in the nation specifically dedicated to empowering and equipping girls in STEM through year-round programming that promotes girls’ early engagement and academic success in STEM, encourages girls’ aspirations and persistence in STEM education and careers, and incubates a talented and diverse STEM workforce.