Girlstart launches its #GrowGirlstart campaign

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.