Tech Trek Campers Headed to Whittier College for Early Look at College Experience
Nine middle-school girls from four San Gabriel Valley school districts have been selected to attend Tech Trek Science Camp for Girls, a summer program for 8th grade girls sponsored by the American Association of University Women of California. The Arcadia Branch will be sending the nine girls to Whittier College for a week in August.
Representing Arcadia is Shreya Maharana from First Avenue Middle School. El Monte City School District is represented by Darlene Lucero, Cynthia Rodriguez, Monica Valles, and Nancy Vo from Potrero School, as well as Paula Alferez from Rio Hondo School. From Monrovia is Kristin Allin, a student at Santa Fe Middle School. Oak Avenue Intermediate School in Temple City is sending Peggy Lu and Lexine Mackenzie.
These young women will get a preview of college life while learning that math and science can be fun. They will live in dorms on the Whittier College campus for a week this summer. They will attend classes taught by credentialed middle-school teachers, featuring hands-on experiments. Women who are professionals in the fields of math, science, and technology will be guest presenters. Highlighting the activities will be field trips to Jet Propulsion Lab, forensic labs and other science and technology centers. AAUW volunteers will serve as camp directors, nurses, and chaperones.
Students are nominated by teachers to attend the science, math, and technology camp. The local branch of AAUW that provides the funding for the students to attend makes the final selection of “campers.” AAUW Arcadia Branch is supporting this endeavor, along with contributions from community donors. A major contributor to Tech Trek 2009 is the Wayne C. Clayton Foundation of El Monte.
The first Tech Trek was held at Stanford University in 1998, with initial funding from the AAUW Educational Foundation. This year, there will be seven camps: CSU-Fresno, Sonoma State University, Stanford University (two weeks), UC-San Diego, UC-Santa Barbara, and Whittier College. Tech Trek is continuing proof that AAUW puts its mission—to support equity and education for all women and girls—into action.