Girlstart on Deck! Thank you to Oakland Unity Middle School for hosting Girlstart Summer Camp July 8-12! It was such a great opportunity to empower girls in STEM.
This week at camp, the campers explored the ocean from its surface to its sandy floor. They learned all about how to engineer equipment for the water while also taking care of the ocean and the creatures in it.
Campers engineered their own pulley systems for hoisting and lowering lifeboats off a ship, making sure that they would be completely safe in case of an emergency. The girls also learned about different kinds of propulsion and looked at how propellers can be used to push boats through the water. They also became aeronautical engineers to design model hang gliders!
While building things to go in the water is fun, we have to be careful to not damage the ocean environment and the creatures that live in it. The girls learned about ocean pollution and the danger it poses to organisms that live there. They then designed their own water filters to make water cleaner. Campers learned about plastic pollution and how to reduce their use by reusing materials. They made their own tote bags out of old Girlstart shirts!
Using virtual reality, the girls were able to explore coral reefs up close. Not only did they learn about the reefs, but virtual reality itself and what that technology can be used for. Finally, girls got to model and then 3D print their own cruise ships!
On Friday, the girls displayed all of their projects for family and friends to see. Thank you to everyone who visited to celebrate the girls’ hard work and empower them in pursuing STEM!
