What do an aerospace engineer from Northrop Grumman, Sonoma State’s Observatory, a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Redwood Credit Union, and Jiggy Bots have in common? They all will be educating and inspiring young women in STEM during the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Tech Trek at Sonoma State June 23-29.
Held at SSU since 2009, Camp Franklin will bring 90 incoming eighth-grade girls – sponsored by 17 different Northern California branches of AAUW – to campus for a weeklong residential camp designed to encourage careers and to continue to develop a passion in STEM. Participant costs of $1,300 per camper are covered by sponsorships and other fundraising by AAUW members.
The California AAUW Tech Trek, now in its 26th year, aims to reverse the effect of systems that have tracked girls and women away from science and math. The Tech Trek website points out that women still make up only 34 percent of the workforce in STEM and that women make up only 21 percent of engineering majors and 19 percent of computer science majors – two of the most lucrative STEM fields.
“In my high school physics class, there are only six girls and 20 boys,” said Emily Kalin, a former camper who will be starting her third year as a counselor at Tech Trek.
“Before the camp, I had never been in a room with that many girls interested in engineering," she said. “I had a chance to have my views heard and hear those of other girls. That was a new, and great, experience for me.”
SSU Tech Trek’s curriculum is centered on five core courses: Natural Science, Chemistry, Engineering, Forensics, and Aerospace Engineering, all of which incorporate hands-on teaching and learning. Students will learn to solder by building jiggy bots with EdEon’s Hannah Hellman, stargaze with Dr. Mary Barsony at the SSU Observatory, and study aquatic macroinvertebrates at Sonoma Water Agency’s Education Center. With SSU Biology’s Kandis Gilmore, they will learn about plant-insect interactions while touring the department’s greenhouses and studying campus mulberry trees, butterfly gardens, and the Anne Frank tree.
Inspiring women speakers, including aerospace engineer Kelley Ristau of Northrop Grumman, former Army Corps Engineer, Robin Liffman, and SSU’s EdEon STEM Learning Director Lynn Cominsky will teach through example. Six other STEM leaders will share life lessons and advice at Professional Women’s Night.
“When Trekkers are asked ‘What do you remember about camp?’ they often say the Professional Women's night – hearing the women's stories and the challenges they met to reach their goals,” said Diane Coventry, California AAUW Tech Trek Co-Director of Sonoma Camp Franklin.
“That could be me someday,” Kalin said about meeting Ristau and others who are successful in male-dominated fields. She plans to follow in Risau’s footsteps and become an aerospace engineer, and will attend Purdue University this fall.
Campers have the most immediate questions for the Youth Panel, camp counselors, and former Tech Trekkers, who talk about their journeys from middle to high school and high school to college, Coventry said.
“Through all these role models, you learn what different transitions are like for women moving into and through their careers,” Kalin said.
Trekkers put their engineering skills to the test at the camp’s last event, “Build it Night.” Cohorts vie to see who can build the best structure using only masking tape and paper tubes made of newspapers that they have rolled throughout the week. Past structures have included a swing set and a bridge (pictured above).
Kalin said the camp is an especially important opportunity for girls from underserved backgrounds, who don’t have access to many STEM classes or the chance to build and work with tools.
“Just this week, I used soldering to make a drone and thought, ‘I learned this at Tech Trek!’”