Montgomery County program encourages girls' interest in technology
Sixth grader Mollie Fink has a budding interest in technology, but her father is positively wired.
Eric Fink, a network engineer turned business development specialist for Lockheed Martin Corp. in King of Prussia, has an iPhone, a BlackBerry, and a four-computer household, and he craves an iPad. When anything breaks at home, he's the dad who can fix it.
So when he heard about the Girls in Technology Summer Academy in the Colonial School District, he encouraged Mollie to enroll.
It wasn't a hard sell.
"I wanted to find out more about all the things I can do," said Mollie, 11, of Lafayette Hill.
Teachers and administrators in the Montgomery County school district are counting on that curiosity. Colonial's Girls in Technology pilot program is designed to encourage middle-schoolers to consider a field of study - and potential career path - that is still boy-centric.
The two-week summer camp, which concludes on Friday, introduces girls entering fourth through eighth grades to robotics, digital photography, programming, gaming, animation, and Web design.
"We know from academic profiles in math and science that girls are just as capable, so there's a disconnect between capability and involvement," said MaryEllen Gorodetzer, an assistant superintendent with the district.
Eric Fink, a network engineer turned business development specialist for Lockheed Martin Corp. in King of Prussia, has an iPhone, a BlackBerry, and a four-computer household, and he craves an iPad. When anything breaks at home, he's the dad who can fix it.
So when he heard about the Girls in Technology Summer Academy in the Colonial School District, he encouraged Mollie to enroll.
It wasn't a hard sell.
"I wanted to find out more about all the things I can do," said Mollie, 11, of Lafayette Hill.
Teachers and administrators in the Montgomery County school district are counting on that curiosity. Colonial's Girls in Technology pilot program is designed to encourage middle-schoolers to consider a field of study - and potential career path - that is still boy-centric.
The two-week summer camp, which concludes on Friday, introduces girls entering fourth through eighth grades to robotics, digital photography, programming, gaming, animation, and Web design.
"We know from academic profiles in math and science that girls are just as capable, so there's a disconnect between capability and involvement," said MaryEllen Gorodetzer, an assistant superintendent with the district.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/education/20100624_Montgomery_County_program_encourages_girls__interest_in_technology.html#ixzz0rrkDjPkU
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