Cayman’s young girls were encouraged to consider careers in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field through the Family Resource Centre’s first all-girls robotics camp on Saturday.
“This [International Women’s Day] year’s theme is #breakthebias and we thought it would be really fitting a to host a camp that’s targeted to young girls ages eight to 13 that are interested in the field of STEM,” Clinical Supervisor of FRC Charmaine Miller told the Cayman Compass at the special camp organised as part of the Honouring Women Month activities.
The camp, held in partnership with 345 Robotics at the John Gray High School gymnasium, gave the young girls the opportunity to build a robot collaboratively, showing them STEM in action.
“So there’s a lot of teamwork going on. There’s a lot of strategic planning and it’s really about fostering their interests and their passion as well as exposing them to other women locally who have pursued the field of STEM,” Miller said.
At the camp, the girls were treated to ‘Moments of Inspiration’ during which Department of Environment’s Jerrica Wood and CUC’s Namitha Abraham talked about their careers and how STEM influenced them.
Miss Teen Cayman Islands Asaiah Thomas, who is pursing engineering and architecture, also shared her ambitions and how STEM is an important part of her future career.
She also urged the girls to not be afraid of careers dominated by men. She shared the story of the three brilliant African-American women at NASA – Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson – who were featured in the movie ‘Hidden Figures’ as women who broke through the glass ceiling.
They were responsible for the calculations that launched astronaut John Glenn into orbit, hailed as an historic moment that turned around the space race for the US.
Though the participants in Saturday’s robotics camp were too young to know what their future careers might hold, they were not too young to grasp the concept of the myriad of opportunities open to them through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
“I felt like it was a very memorable experience and it was genuinely really fun to do and I had a lot of fun with my friends,” said Victoria Carvalho.
Her teammate Alanna Edwards agreed.
Edwards said she enjoyed “building a robot from scratch”.
The girls said they will definitely be adding STEM jobs like engineers, architects and surgeons to their list of career options.
“I would like to be an actress, but now I might reconsider my thoughts now that I realise how much fun it is to build a robot,” Carvalho said.
It’s that inspiration to look to STEM that drives 345 Robotics founder Kendra Morris, who said instilling a love for robots and STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in Cayman’s students has always been important for her and her daughter Kya.
“Girls traditionally are pretty flexible in what they do with education so they may not consider engineering. Or, if someone discourages them, they’ll abandon it and go do something else. Starting at a very young age, something like robotics offers a lot of opportunities because it’s so flexible. You can be good at lots of things and succeed in robotics,” she said.
Morris said having the camp outside of school takes the pressure off the girls as well.
“It’s not about academics. It’s not about teachers. It’s about having fun, building things that work. You have success, you don’t have to know how to read. You can programme the robot and watch it work see all the connections happening,” she added.
The FRC has events all month long as they mark the 23rd anniversary of Honouring Women Month.
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