UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) hosted a STEM activity booth at the national Girl Scouts Unite event July 23-25 in Washington, D.C. The theme of the three-day event, “Girls Make History,” celebrated Girl Scouts contributions to the nation, according to the organization’s website.
IST faculty and staff participated in the convention as an outreach effort, engaging thousands of girls ages 5 to 18. The goal was to share the possibilities that technology and education can offer, according to Madhavi Kari, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging specialist in the college.
“Meeting so many incredible girls and young women reminded us why investing in the next generation matters,” she said. “Their confidence, curiosity and ambition were contagious. They truly believe that their possibilities are limitless — and they’re right.”
The IST booth featured a coding-based activity to help attendees earn their Girl Scouts STEM badge. The scouts created personalized bracelets using binary beads, which provided a tangible way to envision the abstract 1 – 0 binary pattern computers use to talk to each other. And troop leaders had a new badge activity to take back for future scout meetings.
Kari was joined by Katie Frist, student engagement specialist; Chris Gamrat, associate teaching professor; Heidi Lewis, academic adviser; Kristy Romaine, academic adviser supervisor; and Kira Ward, student services assistant.