Rancho Bernardo AAUW encourages girls to explore options at Tech Trek

Five incoming eighth grade girls were exposed to science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers during a weeklong camp due to the efforts of the Rancho Bernardo Chapter of American Association of University Women.

The annual Tech Trek camp was recently held at UC San Diego. This year’s campers selected by the RB AAUW were Elizabeth Garrett from Bernardo Heights Middle School in Rancho Bernardo; Julia Belysheva and Eva Lund from Oak Valley Middle School in 4S Ranch; and Abbey Skale and Emma Sweeney of Twin Peaks Middle School in Poway.

Eva Lund, 13, said she wanted to attend because “I really like science and math and thought it would be fun to go. ... It was really enjoyable. I had a lot of fun there.”

She said her core class was in chemistry, chosen for her by program officials because they “wanted to put us in something we are not used to so we would step out of our comfort zone.” While she had studied chemistry at school, she was not comfortable with it nor had she studied it in-depth before.

“It was different than what I expected,” Eva said, adding the class work included doing a lot of experiments.

Because she is interested in becoming a computer software engineer, Eva said the field trip to ViaSat was interesting because the girls got to see its computer equipment. The field trip that stood out the most to her was to a research pier at the beach where scientists have studied the ocean, weather and atmosphere for almost 100 years and conducted some of the longest research studies.

As for living on a college campus for a week, Eva said, “It was really different. The girls in my dorm I got to know quicker than if we were just going to school. ... It felt a lot more personal.”

“My science teacher told me about (Tech Trek),” said Abbey Skale, 13. “It sounded cool and I’m into science and math. It sounded like a fun experience. I really like astronomy and physical sciences.”

Because of her core class teacher, Abbey said she enjoyed her anatomy class, which “I’m not really into, but ended up being a lot of fun.”

Activities included dissecting a fetal pig. “The pig anatomy is a lot like a human’s ... they have small and large intestines, the same organs and they are similarly placed.” Her prior dissecting experience was with a frog.

Abbey said she also enjoyed the mini-class on physics, which included soldering components on a circuit board so pins on it would light up. She called it a “really fun” new experience.

Her favorite field trips were to Scripps Oceanography, the surgery department at the campus’ medical school and ViaSat to learn about satellites.

“I really want to be an astronaut when I grow up and am really interested in astronomy and space,” Abbey said. “It seems cool to go up into space and do what the astronauts do.”

“I’m very interested in science,” said Emma Sweeney, 13. “Math is not exactly my strong suit, but I’m getting better. I’m interested in STEM overall and learned new information at this camp.”

Emma said being placed in the math core class was “a little stressful at first ... but overall I learned a lot. It was a good class, very open to what anyone wanted to learn.” They studied variables, equations and how they hide the zero, she said. Campers also worked with graphs and studied high school-level theorems.

Emma said she is considering a career in science, though not sure which field since her interests keep changing. They have included biology and physics. Emma said she enjoys dissecting and has gotten a lot of experience since it makes other students squeamish.

The ViaSat field trip was memorable due to the “massive power and strength (of its satellites), which was amazing,” she said. While not initially interested in volcanoes, a slide show presentation by a woman who studies them changed her perception, Emma added.

Overall, she called Tech Trek “amazing,” said the campus was “beautiful” and she had “a lot of fun” with her roommates.

“I really wanted to meet other girls who are interested in science and math (so) I thought Tech Trek would be interesting,” said Julia Belysheva, 12, about why she applied.

Her core class in robotics meant daily trips to Qualcomm where she learned how to build a robotic hat and through writing code make it light up via LEDs. “I’ve never studied (robotics) before and thought it was interesting,” she said.

Her interests have been in microbiology and forensic engineering and Julia said she would like to work in a lab someday.

Besides the Qualcomm trips, Julia said she enjoyed the workshops on life lessons, stress management and the high school and college classes to take. “It was really fun and informational. I love that I got to meet other girls whom I contact, and I got a lot of notes on how to pursue science in the future and pursue different STEM careers.”

She added that staying on campus for the week “was really fun. It felt like I was going to college early, as a 12-year-old. Tech Trek was really interesting and I’m especially glad AAUW picked me to go to the camp.”

Elizabeth Garrett was not available to comment on her experience.

This was the 20th year for AAUW chapters in California — including Rancho Bernardo — to send incoming eighth grade girls to Tech Trek summer camps at universities across the state.

RB AAUW Tech Trek Coordinator Pat Armstrong said it costs $900 to send each girl. All but $50 per girl, which their families pay, is covered by the organization. In addition to RB AAUW members contributing money toward the cost, the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club and Rotary Club of Rancho Bernardo contributed financially so the AAUW chapter could send five girls this year.

Armstrong said Tech Trek is one of many ways the chapter advocates for women and girls and encourages them to pursue STEM education and STEM careers. She said the camp also helps build the self-confidence of girls in science and math courses. Tech Trek was initially only offered by AAUW’s California chapters, but in recent years it has been adopted in Alabama, Florida, Iowa, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon and Washington.

The Tech Trek program has kept in touch with former campers and the data shows its efforts have been successful, Armstrong said.

“They are very enthusiastic after they have gone (to camp), very excited,” Armstrong added. “The parents are very grateful too.”

This year, 15 girls were nominated by teachers from Bernardo Heights, Oak Valley and Twin Peaks middle schools. The nominees had to complete an application, write an essay and be interviewed before the chapter selected the five girls it would sponsor, Armstrong said. Those selected will be visiting with club members during their Sept. 15 meeting at the Brigantine so they can talk about their Tech Trek experiences.

Email: rbnews@pomeradonews.com