When 3rd grade teacher Christie Crouch studied biology in college, she often looked around her classes and noticed only a few other women in a sea of men. She said it sometimes felt like a game of “us against them.”

A few years later, the tables have turned. Crouch now champions Girlstart at Brookhollow Elementary in Pflugerville. It’s the club’s first year, and Crouch said nearly all of the fourth and fifth grade girls flocked to the sign-up sheets at the start of the year. So many, in fact, that the club had to be split into two sessions — one each semester.

Thursday, the class buzzed with excitement about this week’s project. About 30 girls took turns investigating what makes insulated cups so good at maintaining beverages’ temperatures, just like a new product engineer would. By the end of the hour, each girl had made her own version of a Yeti cup.

Crouch floated around the classroom with a smile on her face. She helped the girls cut tape and watched proudly as they presented their prototypes.

“The picture of what it looked like to be in science was very different back (when I was in school),” Crouch said. “It was fun, but I want to see more representation. It takes things like Girlstart to make that change.”

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