Peninsula People April 2016

S P O T L I G H T O N T H E H I L L
Girl Day
Supported by Raytheon
Girl Day is a national initiative from DiscoverE, the organization that
promotes the annual Engineers Week celebration. Raytheon is a
supporter of the Boys & Girls Clubs and so it was a natural marrying of
efforts for the day. The Southern California event took place on February
25 at the San Pedro Club of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Los Angeles Harbor
(BGCLAH).They had about 15 volunteers from Raytheon’s Space
and Airborne Systems office in El Segundo help the 60+ middle school
girls erect bridges from dry pasta noodles. Divided in teams of five or
six, the girls attached lasagna and spaghetti noodles with rubber cement
and duct tape. The bridges gained points for design, ability to allow a
Matchbox car run across it, and the weight that could be hung from the
bridge (measured in bags of rice).
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PHOTOS BY PATRICK MCINTYRE
1. Peninsula residents lend a hand at Raytheon SAS Girl Day Event at the Boys &
Girls Clubs of L.A. Harbor’s San Pedro Club on February 25. Flexing their Girl
Power, from L to R: Leticia Diaz, a Raytheon engineer; Rosa Pesenti, BGCLAH
Board member; Jen Prindle, Raytheon finance planning and BGCLAH Board member;
Gwen Butterfield, BGCLAH Board member; Heather Diffley, Raytheon engineer.
2. Jen Prindle, a member of Raytheon’s finance planning and analysis department
and a board member for the BGCLAH, helped the middle school girls use
their noodles to compete in Girl Day at the Boys & Girls Clubs of L.A. Harbor’s
San Pedro Club on February 25. Teaching children about STEM (science, technology,
engineering, math) careers is an important initiative of Raytheon nationwide.
3. Raytheon engineer Leticia Diaz, a Palos Verdes resident, was a “Club Kid”
growing up in San Pedro. On February 25, she helped another generation of Boys
& Girls Club of the L.A. Harbor members gain exposure to STEM education and
careers in engineering. The middle school girls worked in teams to build a bridge
out of pasta. Girl Day is a national initiative of Discover E, the organization responsible
for spearheading Engineers Week annually. This is the second annual
Girl Day celebration that Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems has hosted at the
BGCLAH.
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22 Peninsula People • April 2016
April 2016 • Peninsula People 23