In The News | Girls learn about STEM careers during summer program

Norwich (The Day, July 19, 2021) — At Three Rivers Community College on Monday, teenage girls and adults teaching them about careers in science, technology, engineering and math gathered around a table to make necklaces using patterns of beads to signify words in Morse code.

The participants of the STEM summer program had just heard from Elizabeth Peterson, an electrical engineer at Electric Boat, about how to identify their values to help choose a career. She explained what an engineer does and what she likes about her career, including being able to make a difference and performing interesting work.

Earlier in the day, the girls participated in relay races, games and yoga, and heard a talk from a cybersecurity expert.

S.T.E.P.S., Inc., a Groton-based nonprofit organization which stands for Striving Toward Empowered Personal Success and whose mission is to empower young women, is holding the four-week summer college and career enrichment program, focused on STEM, along with the National Council of Negro Women and Soroptimist International Connecticut Shoreline.

Amanda Stanberry, 16, and Alexis Wheeler, 15, both of Mystic, who became friends after meeting at the program on Monday, were helping each other as they created their Morse code necklaces.

After listening to a talk from cybersecurity specialist Migdalia Wills earlier in the day, Stanberry said she had learned about the importance of being yourself, and she was making connections in the STEM field.

Wheeler said she was learning about colleges and different opportunities. She said it’s important to try new things.

“If you push yourself to try new things then you could learn more and you can have more fun than you think you would,” she said. 

S.T.E.P.S., Inc. received a $150,000 Summer Enrichment Innovation Grant from the state Department of Education for the program.

The program, which runs through Aug. 6 and is being held at local college campuses, is offering STEM workshops in which girls aged 16 to 19 learn from professionals working in STEM fields and engage in STEM-based activities, such as building drones. The girls also participate in activities, such as yoga and meditation, for their wellbeing after the COVID-19 pandemic. The group also goes on field trips and college tours. Spaces are still available for girls to join the program.

S.T.E.P.S. Executive Director Beatrice Jennette said that during the COVID-19 pandemic there was not an opportunity to go on college tours, so organizers want to make sure the girls now get to visit colleges and schools with strong STEM programs so they see what is available not just locally, but also in neighboring states.

She said they are trying to show the girls that nothing is impossible. Every day, a professional with a STEM career is sharing with the girls what their career is like.

STEM was chosen as the theme for the summer enrichment program because the growing field offers a sustainable future, said Jennette.

Fernanda Reyes, 20, an intern who is studying Allied Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut-Storrs, said that growing up she was taught by her mother about how important STEM is and how women are needed in the field.

She said she felt like a role model for some of the younger students and she was able to explain things to them about college, including about meal plans and financial aid and tips not taught on college tours, such as how to get cheaper textbooks through Facebook groups.

Gabby Fedus, 16, of Montville, who is participating in the program, said she had already learned on her first day a lot about teamwork and about college and a career.

Fedus, who is in the biotech trade at Norwich Technical High School, said she liked being around other women in the STEM field during the program.

Toni Xu, 17, of Uncasville, said she wasn’t sure what major she was going to be in college before, but now she is interested in finance and business.

“I think this opportunity gives me a lot of time to think about what I’m going to do in the future,” she said. 

 

— By Kimberly Drelich, Day Staff Writer

The original article can be found here: “Girls learn about STEM careers during summer program”

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In The News | Summer program provides opportunities to empower girls through STEM

(The Day, June 14, 2021) — This summer, teeenage girls will hear directly from southeastern Connecticut women working in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math – and realize that could be them.

Professionals, such as electrical engineers and scientists, will share with girls 16 to 19 their career paths and what their day is like, as part of a free summer enrichment program held by S.T.E.P.S., Inc. an organization focused on empowering young women, said Executive Director Beatrice Jennette.

“We might spark someone else’s interest to say: ‘Wow, I might want to do this,'” Jennette said.

S.T.E.P.S. Inc. received a $150,000 Summer Enrichment Innovation Grant from the state Department of Education to hold the Summer Leadership College/Career Enrichment Program July 12-Aug. 6.

“S.T.E.P.S. will be joined by The New London County Section of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) and Soroptimist International CT Shoreline to serve a diverse group of 150 young women ages 16-19 in southeastern Connecticut,” a news release states. “This grant has allowed them to offer the 4-week summer program at no cost to participants, including transportation and meals.”

The program will include workshops on STEM taught by women from local companies, such as Pfizer, Electric Boat and Dominion, Jennette said. The participants also will engage in workshops on yoga and meditation, exercise, self-care, art, music and dance for their social and emotional health. There also will be field trips and college tours.

The program is the latest offering from S.T.E.P.S., Inc., a Groton-based organization which stands for Striving Towards Empowered Personal Success. The organization began in 2008 when a group of women saw a need in the community because young girls were struggling, said Jennette. The organization works with girls in sixth through twelfth grade in Groton, New London and Norwich to teach them, build their self-esteem, and give them skills as they transition from grade to grade and from school.

“We’re a support system for them and their families, and we give them skills so that they can prosper and have great success once they get out of high school and they move on with their lives,” Jennette said. “We don’t ever want them to give up on their dreams because we all know it is possible. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t take work, but it means it’s possible. We don’t like for challenges to get them down.”

While unexpected events may happen in life, the organization teaches girls to keep jumping over any hurdles they may face and to keep moving forward, she said. The girls also learn to give back to their communities through community service and to help others, she added.

Jennette said that students over the last year have been going through a lot of depression, sadness and isolation, so the organization thought the summer enrichment program would be a good way to bring students out to socialize and to expose them to what is available to them not just in the community, but also outside of the community.

Jennette said the organization wants to expose girls to STEM because they often shy away from the field, so this is a way to have equity in the workplace and give them a seat at the table. It is also a good opportunity financially because there will be many STEM jobs available, she said.

Jennette said she hopes the program helps students see all the different careers available to them and realize that they too could do the work that the women speaking to them are doing. She said the program is also so important to the women teaching the younger generation.

The program will be held at a local college each week. There will be mask wearing, social distancing and temperature taking, she added.

People interested in the summer program can contact Gayle Rowe at (860) 941-7949 or programs.steps@gmail.com. The program will be held 1 to 6 p.m. Monday-Thursday, with “fun adventures” held 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays. Participants have the opportunity to sign up for the full four weeks, or sign up for a week at a time.

S.T.E.P.S., which holds a smaller summer program each year, will continue to also hold that program this summer for the first two weeks of August. That program is open for girls in sixth through 12th grade and the program also will focus on STEM activities. 

 

— By Kimberly Drelich, Day Staff Writer

The original article can be found here: “Summer program provides opportunities to empower girls through STEM”

 

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In the News | Three Rivers quadcopter team takes first place

 

Norwich, Connecticut (The Day, May 17, 2019) —A team from Three River Community College that included five local students tied for first place in the annual NASA-sponsored Community College Quadcopter Challenge April 26 at Quinebaug Valley Community College in Danielson.

Students were Adam Rugh of Old Mystic, Nate Reigles of Oakdale, Kevin Peterson and Daniel Docker of New London and Jonathan Bermudez of Norwich. The final two students were military veterans.

The team, led by Electric Boat engineer and adjunct professor Yevhen Rutovytskyy, tied QVCC, which had won the three previous drone challenges.

Each team member put in between 80 and 100 hours of work into into the drone, and each student will receive a $1,000 stipend.

The project is intended to increase the number of science, technology, engineering and math graduates, raise awareness of NASA education initiatives, enhance STEM diversity and provide experience with computer-aided drafting software.

“As a senior engineer at a defense contractor, my goal is to help students transcend their ‘comfort zone’ and learn skills that are not ordinarily offered as part of the engineering curriculum in community colleges,” Rutovytskyy, a Colchester resident, said in an email.

Part of the challenge included fabricating a multi-positional camera mount to allow the drone operator to manually switch camera views and acquire in-flight pictures of various targets of interest.

The original article can be found here: ‘Three Rivers quadcopter team takes first place’

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