Highlights from Girlstart’s Ellen Ochoa STEM Academy Summer Camp

Take it to the Streets! Thanks to the Ellen Ochoa STEM Academy in Grand Prairie ISD for hosting Girlstart Summer Camp June 17-21. It was such a great opportunity to reach out and empower girls in the area!

This past week, the campers became city planners and learned all about the ins and outs of what goes into a city – from engineering roads to designing greenspaces to learning about different energy solutions.

Starting with a small city, the campers first learned about the components of a city and what to consider when deciding where those go. Then, they expanded their cities with roadways and skyscrapers, exploring the engineering side of city planning.

Campers also explored how nature interacts with big cities. Making their own compost, building filtration systems, and designing greenspaces showed the campers how important it is to remember the environment!

Cities are always using new technology! The campers used their coding skills to program their own autonomous cars. Each camper personalized their own vehicle and then programmed it to navigate the city and even parallel park!

On Friday, the campers presented all of their hard work to friends and families at the Showcase. We are so thankful for everyone who visited for supporting girls in STEM!

Highlights from Girlstart’s Pfluger Summer Camp

Take it to the Streets! We had the special opportunity of being hosted by Hays CISD at Pfluger Elementary for Girlstart Summer Camp June 17-20. It was so cool to empower girls interested in STEM for a whole week!

This past week, the campers became city planners and learned all about the ins and outs of what goes into a city – from engineering roads to designing greenspaces to learning about different energy solutions.

Starting with a small city, the campers first learned about the components of a city and what to consider when deciding where those go. Then, they expanded their cities with roadways and skyscrapers, exploring the engineering side of city planning.

Campers also explored how nature interacts with big cities. Making their own compost, building filtration systems, and designing greenspaces showed the campers how important it is to remember the environment!

Cities are always using new technology! The campers used their coding skills to program their own autonomous cars. Each camper personalized their own vehicle and then programmed it to navigate the city and even parallel park!

On Thursday, the campers presented all of their hard work to friends and families at the Showcase. We are so thankful for everyone who visited for supporting girls in STEM!

Highlights from Girlstart’s Where the Wild Things Live Summer Camp

This summer our Girlstart campers traveled out into the wild to learn about all things animal! Campers experienced what it is like to study different kinds of animals and how those animals adapt to their environments. With that knowledge, they created ways to rehabilitate injured animals and conserve the habitats they live in.

The girls discovered adaptations of several kinds of animals, all the way from the ocean to the air. They explored how whales echolocate and how to identify land animals based on their footprints and scat. They also investigated how bird wings are specially shaped to help them fly and built their own paper airplanes with wings modeled after different birds.

Campers designed bridges to help replenish the environment for endangered orangutans as they explored the effects of deforestation and the ways humans interact with animals and their environments. The girls engineered prosthetic limbs for injured animals, learning about the different kinds of joints animals have.

New technologies are being used everyday for studying and helping animals. Campers programmed a drone to rescue animals and designed their own apps to match different animal species to their respective habitats. Girls also explored circuitry to create their own unique circuit animal that lights up!

Our end of camp showcase gave the girls a chance to show off all of their hard work to friends and family, as well as share all of the fun they had during the week. Thank you to everyone who came to support our girls in STEM!

Highlights from Girlstart’s Scrub In Summer Camp

Is anyone here a doctor?! After this theme our campers have definitely been inspired to become one! This week, campers explored several different areas of the medical field, from bacteria and dissections to suturing and prosthetics.

Campers learned about the brain and the heart this week – but not just on paper! Girls got hands-on as they dissected these organs themselves. (Just to clarify, these were brains and hearts from sheep, not humans!) Curiosity overpowered any weak stomachs as girls discovered what was inside.

After taking things apart, the campers switched gears and put things together. Our doctors-in-training learned different types of sutures and practiced stitching up toy stuffed animals before suturing a real piece of meat. They also channeled their inner biomedical engineer to design their own prototypes for prosthetic limbs.

Many fields of medicine today use technology to their advantage. Campers made 3D models of ball and socket hinges and then printed them on our MakerBot Replicator 3D printer! They used high powered microscopes to examine different types of blood and then put on VR headsets to explore the human circulatory system. Girls even explored circuitry to create their own version of the popular Operation board game.

On Friday, friends and family visited to see all of the hard work their campers did during the week. Thanks so much to everyone who encouraged these young women in STEM!