MakerGirl and GE Girls Milwaukee, Madison, DC Partner to Provide Virtual STEM Education to Girls this Summer
Milwaukee, WI (June 25, 2021) To kick off summer sessions, we partnered with GE Girls Milwaukee, a program sponsored by General Electric to encourage girls to explore STEM and STEM-based careers. We worked closely with the Milwaukee chapter to bring this offering to 23 girls. Among the other sessions GE Girls provided, the students also participated in a hybrid MakerGirl session. Some of the students were able to interact with each other in a classroom setting while others joined in from home. Our University ChangeMakers joined from different cities across the country. Together, these experiences allowed for a multifaceted, unique experience as the students discussed how different aspects of the Inventor Series tied back into other sessions from GE Girls’ week of STEM-based programming.
“GE Girls focuses on closing the gaps that exist related to gender representation in STEM. The program is a fun and engaging way to provide students exposure to various STEM fields and to a diverse group of STEM role models. Our collaboration with MakerGirl this year provided the flexibility for us to provide in person and virtual camp activities in an effort to evolve with the changing environment around us,” Rachel Herbst said. “This year the GE Girls Milwaukee camp provided students experiences in an array of STEM fields including Industrial, Mechanical, Biomedical, Electrical and Civil Engineering, Computer Science, and Medicine.”
MakerGirl was especially excited to be able to adapt and curate the Inventor Series curriculum to our new partner, iterating along the way to have the activities better fit the needs of not just the girls but the overall experience of the week. The focus on curiosity and community was something that resounded with the ChangeMakers and MakerGirl as a whole. We are incredibly excited to have had the opportunity to work with such like minded individuals at GE. We are excited to offer our level 1 curriculum to GE Girls DC and Madison camps later this summer.
Over the last year, MakerGirl transitioned from in-person to online programming and expanded our program to offer a new project-based curriculum, the Inventor Series. Launched in spring 2021, The Inventor Series: Game Designer is a 5-week project based learning program which teaches girls to be not only makers, but inventors. MakerGirls uses engineering design principles to create their own board game and design 3D printed parts. Parents have remarked that the Inventor Series is helpful for thinking outside the box. Other kits walk through step-by-step instructions, through this program MakerGirls learn how to make their own rules. For the upcoming summer, we transitioned the 5-week long program into a day camp format. We are on a mission to educate 1,000 MakerGirls this summer through our two levels of programming.
“Working with GE Girls has been an exciting experience. As ChangeMakers, we were able to try out different teaching styles with in-person and virtual students. We enjoyed facilitating conversations between the students that were in classrooms together and creating interactive chat experiences with the students calling in from home,” says Nandini Kuntamukkula, ChangeMaker at MakerGirl. “From a young professional standpoint, it was incredibly educational to have hands-on experience partnering with GE and interacting with their team on such a meaningful project.”
Learn more about the Inventor Series: Game Designer and register a MakerGirl in your life for our July programs here.
About MakerGirl
MakerGirl is working to bridge the gender gap in STEM through providing educational sessions to girls across the country led by high school and university ChangeMakers. Since its founding in 2014, MakerGirl has educated almost 5,000 girls in 28 states with half from underrepresented and rural communities.They have created a movement of makers with three different models: University Academies, #MakerGirlGoesMobile, and online curriculum. MakerGirl is on a mission to educate 10,000 students and establish 10 MakerGirl Academies by 2023. Follow the organization on social media @_MakerGirl.
About GE Girls
GE Girls program is part of a long-term vision by General Electric (NYSE:GE) to address gender disparity in the STEM fields, by exposing young women to STEM professionals and hands-on experimentation to drive interest in pursuing STEM education and careers. Learn more about GE Girls at www.ge-girls.com.