STEM Camp Inspires ICAN Girls

July 10, 2017

STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering and Math and has been a hot topic in education for some time. There is a critical shortage of students entering technical fields nationally, and females and underrepresented minorities are not joining these fields anywhere near their potential percentages – only 19% of women graduate with a bachelor’s in engineering or computer science, and inside that number, only 2% are Hispanic. Current enrollment figures show no trend of improvement – girls are opting out of STEM fields at an early age. Meanwhile, the U.S. faces 2.4 million unfilled STEM jobs by 2018, so there is a large opportunity for technical minorities and females to find excellent jobs. Avnet and other local technology companies are striving to hire talented individuals, and would prefer to do so locally.

ICAN has partnered with Avnet to offer a week-long girls STEM camp taking place July 10 – 14^th at ICAN. Avnet has been planning the camp for months and are exciting to bring their STEM activities to the youth at ICAN! The theme of the camp is based on the “Hidden Figures” movie – the girls participating will watch the movie throughout the week and tie-in its inspiring premise. The girls will participate in a ton of STEM-related activities. They will learn coding applications like Python, Scratch and Blocky. They will get to use Raspberry Pi – a single-board computer that teaches the basics of computer science. They will also use a Makey Makey board – an electronic invention tool that allows users to connect everyday objects to computer programs. It will be an inspirational week of new experiences and exposure to the world of STEM.

Below is more information about STEM and afterschool programs from www.afterschoolstemhub.org