2013

July 22-26, 2013 – Bainer Hall, UC Davis campus

The Girls Leadership Camp was held on Monday, July 22, 2013 through Friday, July 26, 2013. The 2013 Girls Leadership Camp was funded by a grant of $5,000 from NCWIT’s ApireIT Middle School Outreach Program and organized by the UC Davis Center for Integrated Computing and STEM Education (C-STEM) and College of Engineering with help from three female college students as coaches as well as 6 high school girls serving as assistant coaches. The 2013 Girls Leadership Camp included two main ideas: introduce girls to robotics and encourage them to pursue STEM fields. 15 girls participated in this first Girls Leadership Camp.

ABC’s coverage of the camp

Girls Leadership Camp

The goal of the Girls Leadership Camp is to motivate girls in middle school to learn science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts through a fun and exciting robotics-based curriculum. The girls learn leadership skills and meet inspiring women leaders working with science and technology

Review
The campers were introduced to the concepts of computing and robotics. They were shown the Engineering Design Process which they used throughout the week to solve the robotic challenges given to them throughout the week. The campers then took lunch breaks at the Tercero Dining Commons and toured the campus dormitories and lecture halls. After their tour they returned to creatively making robot movies and solving robotic challenges. Interspersed in their daily activities, inspirational women leaders came in to speak to the campers.

More photos with high resolution are available on the C-STEM Flickr page and other relevant links

Robot Video Group Project

The robot video was designed to introduce girls to filmmaking and the creative process involved in making a full length film while still thinking about the needs of the world. Campers created a video showcasing the potential ways Linkbots could help humans.

Testimonials from the Girls

“I probably would have never known how to program computer[s] without this program and now I’m more confident about programming computers.”

“Before this program, I didn’t know anything about robotics. Now, I feel confident about programming. I would like to learn more.”

“I feel that I am a bit more computer smart.”

“The C-STEM robotics camp increased my confidence.”

“If I hadn’t have taken this program I would never be interested in computer science.”

“I wanted to be a math teacher but after this program I want to be a computer scientist.”

“Before this program, I wanted to be in the field of genetics, now, I want to get into technology.”

“I thought I wanted to be an engineer that builds bridges and buildings, now I am interested in computer science.”

“…wanted to be something else when I grew up, but now I want to work with programming.”

Awards Ceremony

The Girls Leadership Camp concluded with an awards ceremony for the camp. Sruti Modekurty, the head of the Girls for Computing and Robotics Club presented the UC Davis leadership awards to the middle school campers for their exceptional work in C-STEM education.

Back Row: Alex Bittle, Kruti Modekurty, Abijah Williams, Jordan Criswell, Malaysia Hilliard, Amanda Johnston, Sruti Modekurty, Heidi Espindola
Middle Row: Professor Harry Cheng, Tessa Bomke, Kaylee Kazee, Njeri Kiambati, Abrejiah Jordan, Vianca Hurtado, Gretchen Lai,
Kirandeep Baath, Theresa Fernandez, Leilani Hernandez
Front Row: Asha Cooper, Sienna Tubridy, Eve Banas, Kylee Krzanich, Cassie Reyes, Elisabeth Low, Kylie Cox