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Our branch is an effective, diverse, and dynamic organization advocating equity for women and girls. Our purpose is to unite those who seek to promote equity, education, intellectual growth, individual work, and opportunities for women of all ages.

October 11, 2011

Ice Cream Social a Big Success!

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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!