Gilroy – Who says girls don’t like science?
Ascension Solorsano Middle School seventh graders Antonia Velasco, Ana Virgen, and Mitzi Sanchez returned home from Tech Trek, a week-long science camp sponsored by the American Association of University Women at Mills College, with glowing reviews of the program.
“It was really fun,” Virgen said. “I like learning about genetics. I would like to work to find cures for diseases.”
The first Tech Trek camp began in 1998 at Stanford University to encourage middle school girls to foster their interest in pursuing careers in math, science and computer technology.
It expanded to four other campuses including Whittier College, the University of California, San Diego, Fresno State, and Mills College in Oakland.
With about 1,200 slots available statewide, entry into the Tech Trek program isn’t easy. The girls first had to be nominated by teachers for the camp, then they had to write essays explaining why they like science, followed by a personal interview with Tech Trek sponsors.
The camp costs $600 per student, and only two scholarships were available from the AAUW Gilroy chapter. With additional contributions from community members, as well as from Solorsano and the Gilroy AAUW, the three girls were able to attend without the financial burden.
However, the whole trip may not have been possible, had Solorsano core curriculum teacher Pat Kloecker not gotten involved.
She helped the students with their entry essays and served as an English to Spanish translator for their parents, who sat in on the personal interviews. She even drove them back and forth from the camp.
“It was a pleasure for me to do that,” Kloecker said. “They were just so excited about everything they learned … They’re very hard workers and dealing with tough issues at a young age, and talented to boot.”
For one week the girls lived like college students – eating and sleeping in the Mills College dorms and learning about astronomy, physics, and biology from top female professors.
Though they got to meet with NASA officials about the July 3 deep impact probe, the highlight of the trip was a bit smaller than a historic explosion in the sky.
“My favorite part was the cow eye dissection,” quipped Velasco.
Virgen agreed.
“Some of the girls were screaming, but for me, I was okay,” she said.
The mission of Tech Trek appears to have been accomplished: Both girls plan on attending college and see science in their futures.
“It was fun because it was just girls,” Velasco said. “You had more confidence. And the girls who were there were all interested in science.”
