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Our annual Tech Trek Ice Cream Social on September 25th, 2011, was a HUGE success. We owe a big "Thank You" to the Elks Lodge of Santa Barbara for hosting us for this event.
We had a very good turnout of 2011 campers and their families, as well as branch members, sponsors, and donors. The girls shared their experiences with us in a variety of ways, including a skit. A few past campers from 2008, 2009, and 2010 also shared how their Tech Trek experience influenced them. See the following stories from three campers whose Tech Trek experiences have already helped them become involved in important science and math activities.
Tiana Gong Santa
Barbara High School
I attended Tech
Trek at UCSB in 2009, the summer before 8th grade and although it
was only a week it made some serious changes to my life. Tech Trek made me
discover my passion for science. Before Tech Trek I had always been shy at
school and only showed my truly “real” self in front of family and close
friends. However, starting on the 1st day of Tech Trek, I decided to
attempt to be more outgoing and crawl out of my shell. I learned that if I let
my true self show a little more each day, it not only made me feel good but it
also changed the way people saw me. At Tech Trek, I was exposed to a variety of
careers in science such as a forensic scientist, a nanotechnologist, science
journalist and so much more! Tech Trek opened my eyes wider toward the future
and college.
Since
Tech Trek made me realize my passion for science, I soon began to look for
other opportunities that would assist me in pursuing a brighter future, possibly
in science. The opportunity soon came in the middle of 8th grade
when I learned about a 4 year teen science program called Quasars to Sea Stars
at the Museum of Natural History. I
immediately applied to join my freshman year and got in. I found that Tech Trek has helped me in
Quasars to Sea Stars because at Tech Trek, I became more comfortable in speaking
up and I became a much better communicator. These things helped me in Quasars
because you need to be able to communicate in a team so that you can work with
them to achieve a goal. There are times
when you need to put in your opinion for something and sometimes you need to speak up to get your opinion heard.
Overall, Tech Trek was amazing and I hope all incoming campers have an
experience as great as mine and continue to find joy in science!
Jackie Cabral Santa Barbara High School
Tech Trek was
the beginning to my academic success in science. I remember that Tech Trek was
the best thing that happened to me because it inspired me to keep my goal,
which was and is to become a pediatrician or have a career in science. Then, it
became more important to me because it
helped me become a Quasar. A Quasar is a teenager that is involved in the
excellent program, Quasars to Sea Stars. In the program, we work with
scientists and get more knowledge about science. It wasn’t easy going through
the process, but the fact that I was able to get an eight hundred dollar
scholarship to Tech Trek made me feel that everything was possible. Finally,
Tech Trek opened the doors for me, lead me into success, and taught me that
everything is possible; just because I’m a female ,it doesn’t mean that I’m not
going to be important in the science field!
Michelle Espinosa Dos Pueblos High School
I am very excited as last year's camp was very fun. I wanted to
let you know that I wrote on my application to the Dos Pueblos Engineering
Academy about my experience with Tech Trek and how much I enjoyed the Robotics
class there and I remarkably got accepted!!! Tech Trek really sparked my
interest in robotics and I look forward to my time with the DPHS Engineering
Academy!