MIT Lynn girls STEM from GE

LYNN – The “GE Girls” STEM program aims to get young girls excited about math and science.It has become so successful that, for the first time this year, alumni who helped pioneer the program came back to mentor the 24 girls, all of whom are entering the seventh grade, for this year’s weeklong session. Not only that, what started out as a pilot program in Lynn has turned into a company-wide GE summer program.As part of the course, which was held last week, the girls explored science and math projects both at the GE plant in Lynn and at MIT. And that, says GE spokesman Richard Gorham, is because Lynn was the program’s pilot site.”It got MIT on board,” Gorham said.”Through the generosity of both MIT and GE, the offer was for 24 of our sixth grade middle-school girls to spend one week exploring STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) topics at MIT, with MIT staff and with all expenses paid,” said Catherine Latham, superintendent of Lynn Public Schools.”I was beyond thrilled that Dr. (J. Kim) Vandiver, MIT and GE had chosen Lynn for this program. It has been amazingly successful, and I recently found out that our Lynn program is the longest running program of its kind in the country,” Latham said. “Each year I am incredibly impressed with what the girls have learned and how they demonstrate their new knowledge.”Through the program, the girls are introduced to and taught by a number of women working in STEM-related fields. Forty volunteers from the GE’s Lynn site, including Power & Water and HealthCare, teamed up to help give the girls a hands-on learning experience.”The girls spend a few days at MIT,” said Elena Janice, who helps coordinate the event and works for GE. “This year is the second year that they get to come to GE and do activities on site.”The girls work hands-on throughout the one-week program to complete different projects and experiments that make science fun.”During the week they do a number of things on different days,” she said. “While they’re here we take them to the material lab. They get to make silly putty out of Elmer’s glue,” she said. “They make their own lip balm, create a balloon tower, solder their own circuits with LED lights.”This year, the girls were mentored by the first group of 10 GE Girls alumni, who will be going into their junior year of high school.”Seeing someone who was only in their shoes a few years ago and is pursuing a STEM education is big for them,” said Gorham.”We hope that the girls will feel inspired and interested in taking more challenging math and science classes when they are available,” said Janice.The majority of the alumni girls are currently honors students who are excelling in math and science, said Shirley Albert-Benedict, assistant director of curriculum and instruction-mathematics for Lynn Public Schools.”I got to talk to them individually and quite a number of them said they would want to go into a science-related field like engineering,” she said.”This program is for girls and run by women,” said Albert-Benedict. “They are seeing some amazing role models in the science field.””They are able to learn from each other,” she said. “It’s a collaborative kind of week with a lot of problem solving, critical thinking and a lot of doing.”The summer before seventh grade is a good time for girls to find these role models, according to Janice. “Around middle school is when people are telling them that science and math are really hard. We want them to break away from that stereotype and say ?no, this is really exciting and really interesting,” she said.Enrolling in the camp is no easy feat. The girls who are chosen for the program are first recommended by their teachers. Then, the girls must fill out an application which explains why they want to be involved in the program, said Stephanie Drummond, who works for GE and helps coordinate the program.The application, which includes an essay on why the student is interested in GE Girls, is reviewed by Albert-Benedict. E