Nearly 100 girls from more than 10 schools and organizations in the Southern California area gathered on Saturday, October 11, to learn more about engineering and robotics and kick off a regional effort to launch more all-girl VEX Robotics Competition teams. The event was led and directed by the REC Foundation and sponsored by the Metropolitan Water District. In addition, volunteers and mentors from Women in Science and Engineering from CSUN, Southern California Edison and College SWE Chapters in the area also participated in the program.
“As an engineer, I’m genuinely excited about the opportunity to share my passion for the field by mentoring and supporting young women who seek to engage in robotics,” said Lilly Shraibati, Infrastructure Reliability Manager at Metropolitan Water District. “It was a pleasure to host these local teams for a day of learning and we hope to continue to build momentum and engage more young women in weeks and months ahead.”
The event included a full day of activities with the main objective to provide information and resources to start a robotics team and also to create a sense of community among a large group of all-girl robotics teams. The girls learned the essentials on starting a team, building a robot, using an engineering notebook and testing their designs.
“It was a thrill to participate and engage these young women in the VEX Robotics Competition,” said Valerie Dunalp, Teacher at Louisville High School in Woodland Hills, CA. “I found the information extremely helpful and the girls were quickly able to grasp the concepts presented and build their own robot from the ground up!”
Young women from existing and new VEX Robotics Competition teams attended from the following schools and organizations: Louisville High School; LaReina High School, Alverno High School, Cornelia Connelly High School, Rosary High School, Pomona Catholic High School, St. Lucy’s High School, Holy Family High School, Notre Dame Academy and a local Girl Scout Troop. The next event will be held Saturday, November 22, at Glendale Community College. For more information, please contact Nancy McIntyre.