2011 Annual Report - Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest ...

GSOSW Facts
430
Girl events
3,745
Council-run event
participants
65
GSBB participants
18
C.H.O.I.C.E. participants
869
STEM participants
24
Fall sale items sold
per girl
157
Boxes of Girl Scout cookies
sold per girl
5,528
Resident camp participants
5,332
Day camp participants
10
Girl Driven
Girl Scouts bring gears, motors and
sensors to life
Girl Scouts everywhere are great examples of the term “girl driven.” But some of
them mean it a little more literally – like four girls who make up the Nutty Geeks.
They’re learning about motors, physics and robots with their fellow Girl Scouts.
Van Le is a troop leader and team coach who leads the team of our – Ella, Sonja,
Eleanor and Xela. The Nutty Geeks participate in the First Lego League, an annual
challenge from September to January.
“Our girls were classmates who liked to do research, play with legos and do presentations.
They are active girls who enjoy meeting,” Van said.
Each year the team buys a kit that contains the obstacle course for that year. The
goal is to build a robot that can tackle the obstacle course in 2.5 minutes.
“Depending on what kind of missions (essentially obstacle courses) we want the
robot to do, the robot needs to be made to be able to complete these missions,”
team member Eleanor Kruse said.
They work on their robot until the regional tournament in January. Winners of the
regional tournament advance to state championships, and winners at state go to a
national event.
“The teams compete in three ways: best robot performance on the table, best
teamwork values and best research project. Winning teams are strong in all three
areas,” Van said. Her team meets weekly to build and program the robot, practices
teamwork activities and also researches about a real world problem.
“Ninety percent of the work is done by the team,” Van said. “Adult helpers would
make calls to topic experts and guide the team but all the other work is done by team
members.”
The Nutty Geeks have had great success, garnering regional as well as state awards.
They’ve also had the opportunity to spread the word, receiving invitations to
demonstrate at schools and events throughout the community.
Eleanor sees a direct correlation between what she learned about in Lego Robotics
and her career goals.
“When I grow up, I want to be some sort of doctor.” Eleanor said. “I really got
interested last year when we did our research project on Hemophilia, the theme being
biomedical engineering. We worked with and interviewed a cardiologist... I have
really enjoyed learning about anatomy and am learning more every day.”
Find more information about STEM opportunities for girls, visit girlscoutsosw.org