Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science (GEMS) is a program to help teach females about the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. This is a week-long program held each summer which allows these young women to participate in activities that lead to building their own LEGO NXT robots and getting exposure to the FIRST program. Our female team members, who act as “counselors”, teach the students code, demonstrate our previous robots, and teach them about the opportunities FIRST provides to teenagers. The camp concludes with a tour of Virginia Commonwealth University‘s School of Engineering, which shows them where their passion and excitement for STEM can lead them.
We hope by partnering with this organization, we can help to inspire these young women into going into a field associated with STEM. We also feel this is a good opportunity to help show students that these subjects can be a lot of fun!
“It’s an experience you won’t forget. You’re not only teaching, but learning. It’s great seeing some of the girls I’ve taught [in GEMS] come to the engineering program at our school” –Sammie P., RoboHawk
This camp began with only a handful of students, and has since grown to a class of nearly 40!
Overall we are thankful for having the honor of participating in helping this program.