As educational institutions continue to push students toward science, technology, engineering, and math, Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York is making it easier for girls to get their foot in the door.
With seemingly constant federal and state investments in new technologies and research labs, more girls than ever are getting the chance to pursue careers in STEM.
Recently, Girl Scouts of all ages and students at the University at Albany’s College of Emergency Preparedness, Cybersecurity, and Homeland Security worked together to hone their skills.
The girls were working toward earning a Cybersecurity Day badge to add to their sash.
Stella Mae Easton is a Brownie in Troop 5552 in Guilderland was making a beaded bracelet meant to represent Binary Code. Binary code uses zeroes and ones to assign patterns to information stored on computers.
“I have an ‘S’ and an ‘E.’ So, we have these beads that are colorful. And when you get started, and pink is zero as your hand is one and White is space,” Easton said. “Because in cybersecurity, when people get into things, they use zero, they only use zeros and ones. So, it's really easy. So, we're making that in our initials.”
Easton says she’s glad to have the chance to explore science through crafts. The 8-year-old explains how binary code helps protect information.
“If you're like on any social platform, or if you're on a game or something, if somebody talks to you, they can't get your information. Or at other schools my mom was telling me about how there was a hacker and whenever you tried to send in your schoolwork somebody broke into the schoolwork. So, they couldn’t do that anymore.”
Easton’s mom Danie Easton says programs like these are unlike any experience she had as a Girl Scout.
“It really challenges them to think about, ‘what do I need to do and figure out in order to find a solution to a problem?’ And it really works on their community and integrating into today's world versus, you know, we still do crafts, but it's not just crafts, it's really making them push themselves a little harder and trying new things.”
Easton also happens to be a teacher. She says students who participate in events like this are noticeably more proficient in their computer skills.
Jennifer Goodall IS Vice Dean of the University’s College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity. She says it’s crucial to start teaching students, particularly girls, about science and technology at a young age.
“Cybersecurity is so critical to us right now and we always say that if you have one kind of person thinking about how to solve a problem, then you get a very biased solution,” Goodall said. “OK, it's a solution. But it's a very biased solution. And that's not what we want. We want these really diverse solutions. And it starts with expanding who's part of it, the conversation and the solution development. But it also starts really young, we don't want to wait until kids get to college.”
Now in her first year at the University at Albany College of Nanotechnology, Science and Engineering, Isabelle Savage spent her teenage years being exposed to STEM through Girl Scouts. Savage, who graduated from Saratoga Springs High School, says it was after attending a nuclear science presentation through Girl Scouts that she found her calling in the STEM field.
“Girl Scouts just really like showed me what I could do in a way that like, my own family couldn't just because of the jobs that they were in Girl Scouts allowed me to explore what I could be, like my career options,” Savage said.
Savage says not only did Girl Scouts help her find a career pathway, but helped her confidence and leadership skills.
Linda Stephen is a Girl Scout Experience Specialist at GSNENY. She says about a decade ago, the girls program introduced a series of robotics badges. Since then, Stephen says more STEM programs are added each year.
“I kind of made it a little bit of a mission years ago to start adding STEM programs to our progressions, and it makes me feel good to see that from what we do, they're encouraged and see themselves successful in the STEM field either engineering or architecture or several other areas that are relational to sciences,” Stephen said.
GSNENY hosts several STEM-related badge days every month.
