IST promotes STEM to thousands at National Girl Scout Convention

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) recently hosted a STEM activity booth at the 56th triennial National Girl Scout Convention at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The three-day event, held last month, “united thousands of Girl Scouts, volunteers and supporters with a shared goal of supporting young women to be bold, brave and unapologetically themselves,” according to the organization’s website.

“IST participated in this event as an outreach effort,” said Angela Miller, director of undergraduate recruiting for the college. “Outreach is an important part of recruitment, and this single convention engaged more than 9,000 girls, ages 5 to 17, and nearly 2,000 adults.”

Miller was accompanied by IST colleagues Lauren DiPerna, undergraduate recruiting coordinator; Tyler Estright, student engagement coordinator; Chris Gamrat, assistant teaching professor; and Madhavi Kari, assistant director of diversity, equity and inclusion.

“The College of IST strives to create an environment of inclusion and belonging and attending this event demonstrated the passion we have to do just that,” Kari said. “We were able to connect with young women and talk to them about belonging in STEM and being able to make an impact as a female in technology.”

Packed with Penn State promotional materials and a stand-up Nittany Lion, the IST booth featured a coding-based activity to help attendees earn a Girls Scouts STEM badge.

“The girls created birthday bracelets using binary beads,” DiPerna said. “It was a fun way to teach an introduction to computer coding and STEM disciplines. The activity provided a tangible way to envision the abstract 1 – 0 binary pattern computers use to talk to each other.”

“The scouts were doing activities that they’d do in one of my classes,” Gamrat said. “It gives them an authentic sense of the types of things they’d learn here in IST.”

The Girl Scout Leadership Experience promotes learning by doing to help girls of all ages feel empowered to shape their own experiences, according to the organization’s website.

“I think having something hands-on to make and a keepsake to take home was memorable for the girls,” DiPerna said. “And the troop leaders had a new badge activity to take back for future scout meetings.”

The event, dubbed #PhenomByGirlScouts, featured performances, activities and experiences for troops, families, volunteers, visitors and staff. Relaxation times were built into the convention schedule, but there were no breaks for the IST team.

“Our booth was very popular,” Estright said. “From the time the convention opened up at 9 a.m. to the time it closed at 6 p.m., we had a continuous line of girls waiting to code their birthday bracelets.”

Reaching out to young women from all backgrounds is an important part of IST’s recruitment strategy, according to Miller, and the convention was a powerful way to connect with girls of all ages who are interested in technology.

“It’s so encouraging to see so many young women passionate about technology and to share all of the opportunities Penn State and the College of IST have to offer to these future innovators,” Estright said.

The booth also served as a gathering spot for Penn State friends and alumni, who stopped by to take photos with the stand-up Nittany Lion.

“We truly saw the power of the Penn State network,” Estright said. “So many people from all over the country stopped at our booth to talk about their Penn State connection. It was an honor to represent Penn State and IST at such a large-scale event for an organization with a rich history. We Are…!”