How GirlStart is Paving the Way for Young Girls in STEM
At Carver Elementary School, 50 young girls get together every Wednesday after school to discover the power of curiosity, creativity and critical thinking. Since Girlstart, a nonprofit organization with the mission to empower young girls through STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), came to Georgetown ISD nine years ago, Carver has become home to the largest branch of the initiative in Central Texas.
“Every year when it’s time to send out applications, the program fills up in an instant,” Carver Learning Design Coach and Girlstart Lead Rebecca Barnes said. “It’s just an incredible program, and excitement among the students spreads fast.”
In fact, it spread so fast this year that the number of applicants more than doubled its average.
“My friend told me about Girlstart, and I knew I wanted to be a part of it,” 5th grader Aubrey Garcia said. “I wanted to be able to do cool experiments, and I got to! But it’s also made me confident in myself and my learning.”
Girlstart meetings are run by students from the University of Texas who are members of the organization. At the beginning of every meeting, the girls are given a word of the day with an important meaning to dissect – “tolerance”, “acceptance” and “equity” are a few examples.
“The word of the day is meant to encourage the girls to be kind to one another and set an expectation of respect for every meeting,” University of Texas senior Jordyn Jackson said. “Once that’s established, the STEM learning begins.”
The girls are then introduced to a specific career in STEM and connect it to a real-life woman in the field, before conducting their own research and experiments related to the career of the day.
“One day, the girls read about an engineer who works on self-driving electric trucks,” Barnes said. “For them to see women who are doing great work in the field of STEM, it breaks down walls between them and their dreams…Science and math aren’t unreachable.”
Girlstart looks at the core curriculum students are learning over the year and creates lessons and experiments that support their growth in the classroom.
“Sometimes, I will go to class and feel ahead on what we are learning because it’s something I already did in GirlStart,” fourth grader Charlotte Padalecki said. “I would say to any girl who loves learning, loves experiments, and wants to feel good about themselves that Girlstart is an awesome place for you.”
Girlstart After School is currently offered at five GISD campuses: Carver Elementary, Cooper Elementary, McCoy Elementary, Mitchell Elementary and Wolf Ranch Elementary. To learn more about Girlstart, visit girlstart.org.
