For the past few months I have been working diligently on a pilot program that the Fayetteville Free Library will be hosting at the end of July. There is endless research backing the obvious lack of women in STEM fields (will cite in future post), due to many causes like the lack of female role models and lack of interest as children. Geek Girl Camp will address both of these issues and bring in girls in grades 3-5 into the library to not only learn hands on STEM activities but hear from amazing women who work in the field who will hopefully inspire these young minds to grow up and be just like them!

When I first started planning this program I needed to seek out interesting women who held various positions from students, to leaders in the field who could really inspire a 9 year old without going over their head. After going through my own personal contacts and got a few to agree to speak I looked at the invitee list at a tech meet up in Syracuse. I carefully went through the whole list, checking out websites and LinkedIn profiles and contacted as many as I could to find those interested in participating in our program. Before I knew it I had 10 speakers willing and able to help us out at Geek Girl. Some were local in the Syracuse and Ithaca area, and some as far as Buffalo and Richmond, VA who were willing to drive to the event. Speakers from New York, Virginia and Washington will be Skyping in too! We have women ranging from physics students, scientists working in the pharmaceutical field, coders, psychologists, environmentalists, ocean engineers, professors, women with experience with start ups, leaders from organizations like Girls in Tech and Girl Develop IT and more make up the group we have coming to speak to the girls attending. I couldn’t be more pleased with the response we got and the great speakers we have coming to test out this pilot program this summer.

After securing speakers it was time to get the word out there and come up with an application. I made sure to lay out the time, date, cost ($25), what they would be receiving, what we would be doing and why. With the application was a pick up permission form and photo release form, both important for the safety of the girls attending the program. I also created a scholarship application for families who may not be able to afford the camp but can still apply and receive free admission to Geek Girl! The application can be downloaded here.. geekgirlcampapp

Before we knew it the 40 spots we had reserved for the camp filled up in under a month, with girls on the waiting list we bumped the number of girls to 44 and still have some who may have to wait until next summer. The overall reaction from our community has been great. Excitement from both kids and parents for this unique opportunity for girls.

The camp is only two weeks away and the Geek Girl Camp Task Force and I have been working very hard planning the schedule for the program and every little detail in between. Camps will be the way in which Summer Reading programs in public libraries will be going and it is more difficult then a one and done program considering kids will be with you for 5 hours every day for an entire week.

Regardless, I have been working very hard on this and I cannot wait to see the final product unravel on July 28th! I will write a longer post after the camp is over and share our outcomes of our first ever Geek Girl Camp! Stay tuned!