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Thank You Back to School STEM Saturday Volunteers

Girlstart hosted its annual Back to School STEM Saturday event on August 5th at the Girlstart STEM Center in Austin, TX. 450 people attended and participated in hands-on activities and demos such as satellite launchers, stomp rockets, virtual reality, fluffy slime, and more.

A big thank you to the 60 volunteers who attended and helped lead activity booths. Thank you for making this event run smoothly and helping encourage kids in STEM!

To view pictures from Back to School STEM Saturday CLICK HERE
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Thank You Summer Camp Volunteers

This summer, Girlstart hosted seven weeks of camp at the Girlstart STEM Center in Austin, TX. Each week we had high school girls join us and help with the day to day operations of camp, including prepping snacks, cleaning camp areas, assisting in lessons, prepping materials for activities, and much more.

This year 22 high school students joined us and donated a total of 622 hours of their time. Of the 22 volunteers, 10 were past Girlstart participants. Thanks to these volunteers, camps were a success and girls enjoyed their Girlstart Summer Camp experience.

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Hands-On Wednesday: Agate Candy

 

Observe both a physical and a chemical reaction in this tasty experiment. You may have seen agate crystals used as a colorful home decorations, but it took many years for these rock formations to develop.  Agate crystals are formed when microcrystals within a hollow pocket of a host rock begin self-organizing to form patterns. The colors and arrangements of the crystals are influenced by changes in temperature, pressure, and mineral content. Luckily, our experiment only requires a physical change by being crushed, a chemical change from the oven by being heated and melted, and it takes a lot less time to develop these crystals!

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Hands-On Wednesday: Paddle Boats

 

We are nearing the end of summer, but it is still so much fun to play in the water! With this hands-on project, we created a paddle boat that is able speed through the water by using foam based propellers to drive it. By twisting the rubber bands attached to the propellers, you build up potential energy. When the propellers are released, the energy changes to kinetic and you get to watch your boat zoom away!

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