Nearly 60 young women and girls gathered with mentors to engage in six STEM-related activities: Epidemiology, Health Care and Therapeutics: How does science help control Ebola outbreaks?; My Robotic Friend: Discover the power and limitations of programming; Science and National Security: How do they protect us from terrorism?; Become an Architect: Design and build a school; Investigating Unknown DNA: How is new DNA sequencing technology solving crimes? and; Decoding the Web: An introduction to the code that builds the internet.

The day capped off with a keynote speech from Christine Baker, Principal Investigator for research programs in human genomics and forensic applications using next-generation DNA sequencing technology at Battelle Memorial Institute.

Feedback from students and teachers alike was overwhelmingly positive:

Students

• “Science isn’t just in my classroom.”
• “I should do what I enjoy!”
• “You’re more than just #AGIRL”
• “It is hard work and dedication to have success, it isn’t just a picture-perfect career that everyone sees on Facebook.”
• “The activities really made me think!”
• “I will remember the confidence I made for myself.”

Mentors/Teachers

• “Keep influencing girls!”
• “I had great interactions with students”
• “I can’t believe all the impressive girls I met today”
• “I hope I remember everything from today”
• “I will remember the positive way the girls responded to the variety of mentors”

The event was sponsored by the UVA Research Park, Battelle Women’s Network, VMDO Architects, Central Virginia Chapter of AFCEA, Charlottesville Women in Technology, Tech-Girls, Bodo’s Bagels, David Wagner, PVCC Kids College, First Citizen’s Bank, and Wegmans. More photos from the day can be viewed on our Facebook page.