They don’t just sell cookies!
A local Girl Scout troop hosted a kid-organized career carnival on May 17 in Marine Park, focusing on preparing young women for their professional futures.
Troop 2-126 put on the event at Good Shepherd Catholic Academy, teaching the next generation of female pioneers about science, technology, engineering and mathematics, said the troop’s leader.
“It was a great introduction to possible careers in science and technology, as a lot of women are taking more of an interest in STEM fields,” said Michele Kelly.
The young women set up six stations, where attendees learned about various aspects of the tech-driven future.
“They built robots out of recycled materials, because girl scouts have to go green,” said Kelly. “They had a movement station where they learned to dance like robots. We had a station where the girls interviewed one of the parents, who works as a technology teacher with the Department of Education. And we had the kids reflect on how this could affect their careers.”
As part of the effort, the 16-member troop created a functioning website to promote the carnival, according to Kelly.
“The girls made the whole website themselves,” he said. “My daughter, Victoria, is very tech-savvy, so she made the website, and all the girls contributed to it. They were each responsible for a page on it, and make sure it was full.”
Kelly called the event a smashing success, giving all the credit to the girls, who range in age from 5 to 16 years old.
“Our scouts have been working on this since last year,” she said. “It was the culmination of many, many meetings. It was really nicely put together, and it was entirely kid-run, which is great.”
