Donations sought to send East Jefferson County girls to tech camp

Published 12:01 am Friday, January 30, 2015

PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend branch of the American Association of University Women is seeking donations to send East Jefferson County girls to a summer Tech Trek camp.

A $10 donation pays for workshop/mini-lab supplies for one camper, $50 pays for all classroom materials for one camper, $100 pays for field trip transportation for two campers, and $900 pays for a full scholarship for one local girl, organizers said.

Weeklong stay

Last year, six seventh-grade girls were selected from East Jefferson County for scholarships to attend Tech Trek, a weeklong residential summer camp sponsored by AAUW-Washington State.

The camp immerses girls in a week of hands-on activities designed to encourage their interest in science, technology, engineering and math — career areas in which women are typically underrepresented.

Research sponsored by AAUW shows that middle school girls who lack encouragement, challenge and role models in science, technology, engineering and math — called STEM subjects — may not continue to pursue those areas in high school and college.

As a remedy, Tech Trek was started in 1998 at Stanford University to serve 150 California middle school girls.

That program has grown and now serves more than 800 girls a year.

Washington began this program in the summer of 2013, and the expectation is that at least 150 Washington seventh-grade girls will participate in Tech Trek camp this summer.

Teachers at local public schools nominate girls who exhibit a particular interest in science and math.

Members of AAUW interview the applicants prior to awarding the camp scholarships.

For more information about Tech Trek and how to make tax-deductible donations, phone Kathy Traci at 360-301-5378 or Beth Crouch at 360-390-8645.

Information also is available at http://techtrek-wa.aauw.net.