|
Media Releases
Girl Scouts win award at FIRST Robotics Competition
Competition culmination of
Teen Scouts' Gold Award project
Media Contact:
Melissa G. Cox
302-456-7170
mcox@cbgsc.org
For Immediate
Release
Date: January 24, 2008
Newark,
DE – In 2007, Girl Scout Erin Lawler contemplated which service
project she should do to earn her Gold Award. She decided to bring
her own love of science, technology and engineering to low-income
girls living in Wilmington’s Hope Zone. But how?
Erin
remembered what initially sparked her interest in science and
technology as a kid – engineering and building robots in the FIRST
Lego League. Designed to teach kids about STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering and Math) in a fun, hands-on setting, the
FIRST Lego League spans the globe and holds annual regional,
national and international competitions. A few years ago, Erin’s
team went on to the national competition and was honored at the
White House by President Bush. These experiences have led Erin to
want to pursue a career in engineering.
Erin
decided that if she could help spark interest in STEM in girls from
low-income families, then she could help open doors for them and lay
the foundation for their future success.
With help from
her high school science teacher Cheryl Potocki, and Angie Cright,
Director of Outreach for the Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay, Erin
identified a handful of 5th grade girls who would become
the Girl Scout Council’s inaugural FIRST Lego League Team.
With Erin as
their teacher, mentor and role model, the girls did what few of
their socioeconomic status have the opportunity to achieve – design,
engineer, program and build a motorized robot out of Legos. Through
this project, the girls strengthened their math and science skills
in a real world setting while practicing teamwork and problem
solving.
With Erin
leading the way, the Girl Scouts Lego Team of Wilmington, nicknamed
the “MOE-Bees” (MOE standing for Miracle of Engineering, the slogan
of DuPont, the Lego League Competition’s title sponsor), won a
trophy award titled “Against All Odds,” an acknowledgement of the
many obstacles the girls had to overcome in order to participate in
the league. In addition to winning the award, the MOE-Bees
pre-qualified to go to the regional competition at the University of
Delaware!
On
Saturday, January 19, Erin, along with team mates Na-Kya Bessix and
Brezeana Goodridge, attended the regional competition, where over 55
teams from across the region
competed for the chance to go to nationals. Although they did not
qualify to move onto the national competition, Erin, Na-Kya and
Brezeana were incredibly happy and proud of what they had
accomplished. When asked what she
thought of the whole experience, and of science and technology, Na-Kya
said “It’s really cool!”
Click the following links to view pictures from the FIRST Lego
League Regional Competition at University of Delaware:
Photo 1 |
Photo 2
A leading
advocate for and expert on girls, the Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake
Bay builds girls of courage, confidence and character by
providing personal leadership development and programs that teach
skills for the real world. To learn more about Girl Scouts of the
Chesapeake Bay Council, visit
www.GSCB.org or call 1-800-341-4007.
# # #
|
