Adorned in rainbow-patched vests and face paint, about 50 Girl Scouts conducted science experiments at the Society of Women Engineers’ annual Girl Scout Day.
The event helps introduce young girls to engineering, said Megan Labrecque, the Society of Women Engineers’ on-campus internal outreach chair. Organizers set up about five stations, where the scouts fiddled with aluminum-foil boats, soda-bottle rockets and popsicle sticks to model different fields in engineering.
Ella Osborne, an 8-year-old Girl Scout, said she was excited to work with robots.
“I like to tinker with things,” Osborne said. “I took apart a computer, and it was really fun.”
Labrecque, a UF biomedical engineering sophomore, said it’s rewarding to see the ‘aha’ moment as the girls experiment with their projects. She hopes it inspires confidence in the girls.
In her own classes, Labrecque said the ratio between men and women still tilts heavily in favor of men. She said the event may introduce engineering to a younger generation of women, boosting those numbers.
“Sometimes you do have points in your life where you feel just alienated because you’re a girl in engineering, but if you’re kind of used to it or you have more girls coming in, it’s less intimidating, almost,” the 19-year-old said.
Amelia Moore, a 9-year-old member of Troop 1247, was excited to build and play at the different stations. Moore said she likes arts and crafts, and science is her favorite subject in school. When she grows up, she wants to be a scientist like her mom.
Brenda Moore, Amelia’s mom, does research on Alzheimer’s disease with the UF College of Medicine. Moore said the event would help introduce Amelia, and other girls, to the possibility of engineering fields.
“I didn’t know until I went to college,” Moore said. “So I thought it would be a good way for her to know.”
A Girl Scout uses dry spaghetti and mini marshmallows to create different structures.
