AUSTIN, Texas — Getting more girls to study science, technology, engineering and math.
STEM education has always been the goal behind Girlstart, as the non-profit held a back-to-school bash on Saturday at its North Austin location off Anderson Lane.
Boys and girls were welcome for the celebration. STEM lessons included learning how lasers work and how virtual reality works. Children also learned a little bit about chemistry when they made slime!
11-year-old, Beth Sanders, has been coming to Girlstart for the past three years.
"I made a rocket. I made slime. I controlled a ball that lights up, and I made a paper airplane and an air balloon. I really like science and I really want to do something with animals and maybe make some things to help them," Sanders said.
Since Girlstart began in 1997, Kara Torbert, a Community Stem Coordinator for the organization, said they have pushed more girls towards STEM education.
"We have a lot of girls who come back and summer camp with us for five years and come back years later and tell us 'hey, because of what I learned at Girlstart, I'm a biology major'," said Torbert. "All of our programs are led by our STEM CREW, which are creative resourceful empowered women. And so there are a lot of girls that are studying stem themselves in college and so they love to share their love of stem and their passion with our campers and our participants."
Girlstart also runs after school and summer programs.