Texas: Girl Scouts learning to be leaders

From Go San Angelo: Girl Scouts learning to be leaders
SAN ANGELO, Texas — A wooden catapult, Bubble Wrap, a golf ball and masking tape sat on tables in the loft of Angelo State University's Cavness Building, waiting to be put to use by a team of teenage girls.

The girls' mission: to combine those items with packing peanuts, felt, and pipe cleaners to create a "protective device" for an egg, to be projected with the catapult, then measured for accuracy and distance. Girls used the golf ball to simulate the egg while testing their device.

The "Sharp Shooter" workshop was one of 17 offered at Saturday's Girl Genius STEM Conference at ASU, sponsored by Ethicon and hosted by ASU and the Girl Scouts of Central Texas.

"STEM has been our focus for quite some time now," said Kandace Fiero, public relations specialist for GSCTX. The long-term goal is to create balance and leadership, she said, and to build girls as leaders as prescribed in the Girl Scouts' new campaign, "ToGetHerThere."

The ToGetHerThere campaign is a multiyear effort to break down societal barriers that hinder girls from leading and achieving success in everything from technology

and science to business and industry.

Nearly 200 girls in grades six through 12 attended the event Saturday, which focused on careers in STEM — science, technology, engineering, and math.

"We are building girls as leaders," Fiero said, "literally, 'to get her there.' "

Girls came from as far away as Stephenville, Killeen, and San Antonio to attend the event.

"It sounded like an exciting opportunity to get the girls on a college campus, get exposure to a university, see what it's like to go to classes, and meet the professors," said Theresa Reusel, leader of Girl Scout Troop 2151 from San Antonio.

"They loved the science here today," she said. "It sparked their interest. They got to see things to do with science that they don't see in school. They're already talking about coming back next year."

Mostly female professors from ASU, along with engineers from Ethicon — the event's major sponsor — presented the workshops.

"It's kind of a unique opportunity," said Kit Price Blount, research scientist at ASU. "We never had anything like it, before we started this four years ago."

The conference has become an annual event for area schools, hoping to expand the girls' horizons.

"I really think it's a great opportunity for girls to see what's out there," said Amy Brown, a junior high teacher from Veribest.

"A lot of girls just think teacher or nurse (as a career)," Brown said, "even still today."

The STEM conference "helps them see science and math as not just a class, but something fun they can use in everyday life," she said.

"Math is hard for me," said Ashley Esquivel, ninth grade student from Veribest. She said that attending the conference last year "actually helped me learn that it is fun."

Esquivel had so much fun last year, that she encouraged her friend, Angela Molina, to attend with her this year.

"Ashley was talking about how much fun it was," said Molina, also in ninth grade at Veribest. "It helped her, maybe it will help me."

At the end of the day, students and their parents were treated to a show of chemistry and physics displays and a laser light show, presented by professors and Society of Physics students.

"It was a fabulous day," said Onessa Freasier, who attended workshops designed for parents while her daughter was at the conference. "It was way better than I expected, and I expected it to be great."

Freasier's daughter, Zolivia, a home-schooled sixth-grader, described the conference as "seriously fun." Before the conference, Zolivia said, "I wasn't into all kinds of science and art."

"Today, I realized how much work goes into it," she said, "but the work actually makes it more fun."

"I would definitely recommend it to anyone," she said. "I'm seriously looking forward to the next one — I'm not even kidding."