by Claire Castellon, FAWCO UN Youth Rep
Girl Scouts of USA
Tuesday, March 7, 2023, 10:30 am-12:30 pm
Salvation Army Auditorium
Sarah from Oklahoma. I was impressed by her experience of not being able to access the Internet in her small, rural town of 2,334 residents. This made me realize that not everyone has the privilege to have access to what is now a very basic need, the Internet. Is it a basic need? Internet access is essential to children’s education and their process of learning. It is the nature of where the world is evolving. Without that access, they fall behind in being able to stay connected with the modern world, which changes so fast. There are so many online resources that are beneficial for growth and self-learning. However, for Sarah, the Internet access is very unreliable in her town. Before there was an Internet connection in her home, she had to go to her mom’s place of work, the library, McDonald’s or the parking lot of the local community college. How does that help you to learn? It doesn’t. And yet, she gets points for being creative and not letting this situation stop her from learning. In sum, the lack of Internet access is not helpful and it happens right here in the USA.
Alexandra talked about being an African American young woman pursuing robotics and next year in college, an engineering degree. She said that only 6.5% of engineers are African American women. So it may be lonely. Plus she feels the pressure of carrying the weight of expectations, that so many people want her to succeed but what if she has a change of heart or mind with regards to her major? She also pointed out that her high school career in robotics has been successful because her parents supported her in the journey, driving her to competitions that were 1 ½ hours away from her home, paying for entry fees to robotics competitions, and encouraging her at every step of the way. Alexandra gave a lot of credit to her parents
Annmaria is a Gold Award Girl Scout from Silicon Valley, California. Her Gold Award project was to match blood donors with a number of rural hospitals in India so that they could be connected especially when there was a critical need for blood. The other project she led was to raise $30,000 to build a hospital in Uganda. Annmaria is a senior at a STEM-focused high school in Silicon Valley, California.
Since 2017, USA Girl Scouts has awarded more than 500,000 badges related to digital literacy, cybersecurity and STEM. Kayleigh McKenna spoke about leading this program for USA Girl Scouts.
I worked on a Girl Scout STEM badge called, “Think Like An Engineer.” First we watched interviews with several women describing their education and career paths that led to working at NASA in Huntsville, Alabama and Cape Canaveral, Florida. Then I conducted various physics experiments with basic household items (string, a cup, a ball, a bullseye). The final part of the badge was to do a Take Action project. Looking around my local community, I partnered with a local church which sponsors a park for children called Harmony Place. We collaborated on designing and painting a peace pole. I drew a design in color and used the four seasons, one season on each side of the pole with the word for peace in various languages. The team adopted my design. After 2 painting sessions with other community members, we mounted the peace pole in a space along the main thoroughfare of our town. That is how I earned the badge, “Think Like an Engineer.”
photo: Claire Castellon