Choose Her Own Adventure

Unique opportunities to empower young women Up North

Oct. 27, 2018

Maybe International Day of the Girl — Oct. 11 — slipped by you this year. Local STEM enthusiasts over at Traverse City’s Quarkmine Space, however, celebrated with a day of tech: Girl Powered. Inside the space, late elementary and early middle school girls wander from station to station, making bead bracelets that spelled out their initials in binary code, battling robots, and building circuits. 

The workshop, part of a program that advocates for and advances girls in robotics, reflects a rising trend around the country — and the world — to provide girls and young women unique and confidence-building education opportunities outside of the classroom. A report from the World Bank finds that empowering young women in education leads to stronger economies.

Several of the girls at the Quarkmine event are members of the RoboRunners, a local competitive robotics team, which design, build, and drive robots at competitions around the country.

The RoboRunners are easily identifiable in their blue team jerseys. They stick together in smaller pairs and trios as they walk around the room quietly giggling and eyeing each of the possible activities. Then — whether they’ve chosen to build circuits or fight robots — they zoom in immediately on the task at hand like a predator pouncing on its prey.

Quarkmine’s owner and robotics coach, Philip Leete, has two daughters. His older daughter, Madelyn, is a member of the all-girl elementary robotics team. He impresses upon the girls he coaches the value of showing up to workshops and events like these simply so that they can be seen by other girls. The thinking: If newer girls see someone like themselves competing, then they’re more likely to participate. But, the RoboRunners don’t see it that way. They aren’t shouldering some invisible duty for women of the future. To them, robotics is fun combined with competition — a team sport like any other. 

When asked if she thinks having girls in science is important, Lizzy Eickenroth, a local seventh grader and RoboRunners member, shrugs her shoulders.

“It’s most important that they do something they like,” she says. “It doesn’t matter how many boys there are.”

A case in point is Eickenroth’s eighth grade teammate, Valerie Marinello, “There used to be a lot of guys on our team,” she says as she manipulates ozobots, which are tiny robots that follow a path drawn by a marker. “Now there are only two.”

Like many girls who join the team, Eickenroth and Marinello are completely invested in RoboRunners, says Leete. Team practices are two hours long, and  Leete, who coaches both girls and boys, suggests the demands are often easier for girls: “In competitive robotics, to be good you have to be a team player. You have to be able to compromise, play to your strengths, listen well, and focus. Girls — from a very young age — naturally do that better.”

What else can girls do to expand their horizons Up North? Turns out, lots:

Tackle the Greatest of Outdoors
Craig Mosher, founder and president of the board at Right Tree, is father to two daughters. “There are lots of programs for after disaster strikes, but not many for before,” he says. Right Tree is a summer program in Elk Rapids that is designed specifically for girls to discover their own self-worth and to learn that they aren’t alone in the world as they grapple with the side effects of growing up. Right Tree hosts a variety of programs from camping at Sleeping Bear to cooking lessons or backpacking Pictured Rocks. Girls are led by college-aged young women on trips and activities in northwest Michigan. Right Tree even offers “adventure rentals” for a suggested donation. Your family can rent tandem bikes, metal detectors, stand-up paddle boards, and other equipment for outdoor activities. All proceeds of the rentals go “back into our programs to improve the lives of girls.” Mosher would love to expand to year-round programming, but for now, keep a look out on their website for next summer’s opportunities.

Sail into Science
Young Women in STEM is a summer program run by the Inland Seas Education Association in Suttons Bay since 1995. Participants get to sail aboard a schooner and learn about sailing, the lakes, and science. They observe weather patterns, determine the lake’s thermal structure, and learn about general limnology, which is the study of the biological, chemical, and physical features of freshwater entities. “Small groups of girls complete research projects,” says Jeanie Williams, who is the Inland Seas Lead Scientist and Education Specialist. Students can even use an ROV—an underwater robot—to assist in their research and gathering samples. Each trip is three days long and is for rising eighth graders through summer after twelfth grade. You can get more information on the 2019 season, pricing, and sign up on their website at www.schoolship.org.

Ride North, Young Gal
More Girls on Bikes is an aptly named initiative within Norte!, a “bike-centric, youth-focused advocacy organization” in Traverse City. Outreach Director Melissa Socia says, “Historically in all of our programs, the number of boys to girls has been three to one, so we saw a definite need to recruit girls into the program.” Since the introduction of the initiative, Norte! has seen the number of girl participants triple — specifically with their mountain bike team, where kids aged from first through twelfth grade get to learn about mountain biking and ride at parks around the city. “We’re trying to find programs and situations that welcome the girls and make them feel like they need to be here, too,” says Socia. Visit their website to find information on upcoming programming, including their “A Very Grrrrls Iceman” event on Saturday, Nov. 3.

Pilot Your Own Course
Kate Hauch is the president of the brand new Traverse City-based chapter of Women in Aviation, an international organization with the goal of diversifying those in aviation careers. The chapter recently hosted a program called “Girls in Aviation” and are looking to find new ways to include young women in aviation via programs, such as a visit to the North Flight Aero Med Hangar and school outreach. For more information, visit their NMCchapter Facebook page or email Hauch directly at kmhauch@gmail.com. 

Build Robots
Moms Ellen Kosmowski and Bobbi Rogers Krause are starting their own robotics team out of Manistee Catholic Central. While neither has a daughter, they are passionate about educating their sons how to listen to and advocate for their female peers. Krause, who is a software engineer for Quicken Loans said, “My sons are going to be the men that women of the future have to work with.” When deciding on teams, they divided the kids randomly. One team is all girls, and they are excited to see how the program develops, and to start modeling best practices on how we as people should treat each other. Both Kosmowski and Krause agree that boys need to learn how to listen, and girls need to learn how to effectively advocate for themselves.