Girl Scouts Discover What It Takes to be an Engineer!

On Saturday, February 25 Girl Scouts – North Carolina Coastal Pines hosted Engineer It! at North Carolina State University, an annual premiere event that helps expose Girl Scouts to vast world of engineering. The event served almost 90 Girl Scout Juniors in Wake County and provided them with the hands-on activities from different fields while learning about the design process and discovering what it takes to be an engineer.

The event included interactive activities such as proto-typing designs of various shoes, building windmills from recycled CDs, and playing with Nano Bugs. These activities promote inventiveness and creative thinking, and help girls develop more technical science and engineering skills through real world applications.

According to Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI), 74 percent of girls are interested in STEM subjects and the general field of study while 82 percent of girls see themselves as “smart enough to have a career in STEM.” Through Girl Scout STEM programs, girls become resourceful problem solvers, challenge seekers, promotors of cooperation and team building, and feel empowered to make a difference in the world.

With events like Engineer It!, girls also have the opportunity to bridge the existing gender gap within these male-dominant career fields. Just ask local Girl Scout Sadhana Anantha, who was also a Girl Scouts of the USA National Young Woman of Distinction, whose Girl Scout Gold Award project focused on making STEM fields more accessible to young girls. “The stigma of ‘I can’t do or understand this because I am too young’ was a mindset I wanted to dispel. I wanted to inspire young minds to take action and encourage them to begin to create their own footprint in the world.”

STEM programming remains a top priority for Girl Scouts as we continue to help build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.

For more information about Girl Scouts – North Carolina Coastal Pines and its STEM programs for girls, please visit www.nccoastalpines.org or call (800) 284-4475.