Queens Tribune

Teams of girls raced to complete their task of assembling a robotic mouse that would zoom around the room, but there were some bumps on the way.
For starters, the instructions were in Japanese and the girls who hailed from schools around the five boroughs had only the pictures and their knowledge in science to guide them.
“I think we got the box that doesn’t work,” said Victoria Green, 16, a junior at Thomas Edison High School in Jamaica.
The group of five high school juniors and seniors and one college student split the job into different tasks. While two bumped heads over hooking up the motor, two others assembled the body and two more fielded questions from the confounding, colorless instruction sheet.
About 100 students were invited to DeVry University Dec. 7 in Long Island City for a conference dubbed “HerWorld” to help high school girls learn more about career opportunities in business, technology and science.
Margaret Chadwick, a DeVry admissions representative, said the conference helps empower women.
“Women need to know their opportunities,” she said, “and science and technology are great options.”
The ladies working on building their mouse had their wheels spinning but in the wrong direction. Natlie Sommer, a DeVry electronic engineering technology professor, told them they must have reversed the polarities and walked away. The girls were not sure what that meant, but quickly began switching wires around.
“It’s a challenging project,” Sommer said. “But it really helps gain confidence when they complete it.”
Sommer said the science and technology field is still primarily a male environment, but she sees a trend shifting.
At the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology this month, one of the nation’s premiere student science awards, girls took top honors for the first time.
Sommer said her classes have, in the past five years, begun to show more equality in gender.
“I like this conference because it shows girls they have what it takes,” Sommer said.
While women account for nearly half the total work force in the country, men still hold three quarters of science-based jobs, according to the National Science Foundation.
In the afternoon, groups of a dozen or so girls were asked to redesign popular inventions making sure to think about viability, marketability and cost. One team from Edison won with their idea to add mace to their MP3 players so they would feel more protected when they ran.
The girls working on their mouse were ready for their test run. They placed the robot on their table and, spinning backwards and in circles; they immediately removed the battery and went back to rooting out the problem.
The girls were five of 47 who came from Thomas Edison that day. They were taken from their graphic arts classes to attend the half-day conference.
Sandra Cruz, an Edison graphic arts teacher, said her class has become quite popular for girls to take.
“It has changed in the past six years or so,” she said. “It went from more boys than girls, to now when girls are the majority.”
Cruz said girls believe they can succeed in science more than they used to.
“They come in and say, ‘well, my dad’s a mechanic,’” she said. “They have this interest and it’s great for them.”
The girls did not get a chance to work out their bugs before a team from Brooklyn got its mouse to work properly.
“Oh well;” Edison junior Nazira Afrin, 16, said, “Next time.”
After the rousing morning activities, Chadwick gave a presentation outlining successful women in the science and business field.
“This is something anyone of you can do,” she said. “And these jobs are very hot right now.”