80.2 - Building Self Awareness Through STEM Virtual Summer Camp for Young Girls - - Board: B223-224

Shyretha Brown (Building Bridges, Inc.), Steven Dominguez (Building Bridges, Inc.), Leon Drabo (Building Bridges, Inc.), Suja Senan (Building Bridges, Inc.), Georgia Gerber (Building Bridges, Inc.), Kathryn Johnson (Building Bridges, Inc.), Lauren Zelaya (Building Bridges, Inc.), Kat Tran (Building Bridges, Inc.), TaAqua Campbell (Building Bridges, Inc.)

Self-awareness is the ability to accurately judge one’s own performance and behavior and to respond appropriately to different social situations. This skill is vital to a student’s success, particularly young girls. Building Bridges, Inc., a non-profit organization (EIN: 82-5445077), was born out of a desire to empower young Black girls by exposing them to STEM education and self-awareness strategies. To address this effectively, a 3-day virtual summer STEM camp was created for students to experience topics pertaining to the science of skin and hair along with self-empowerment. The purpose of the virtual summer STEM camp was to expose girls ages 8-14 to a science curriculum featuring the chemistry of soap, biology of skin, and anatomy of hair. A total of 10 African-American girls ages 10-14 (grades 5th-10th), from the states District of Columbia, Illinois, and Mississippi registered for the 3-day camp consisting of 1.5 hours each day. Prior to the start of the camp, each student received STEM kits at their home to create personalized products for self-care. At the beginning of the camp, students were assigned camp teams and were encouraged to actively participate throughout the camp duration via poll surveys and breakout rooms. In addition to science discussions and personalized product development of soap, sugar scrub, hair conditioner, and shampoo, the students were exposed to career paths, self-affirmations, and guest speakers that talked about their STEM careers. Students were awarded with certificates and prizes to reinforce participation and engagement. Survey responses declared that each activity was highly rated as excellent or good. Overall, engaging students in positive self-affirmation, creative thinking, and self-perception activities may influence students to become more confident learners, experimenters, and true believers in their own capabilities.

lt;bgt;Funding Statement: lt;/bgt;
All kit materials were funded by Employees Committed to Helping Others (ECHO), an Employee Resource Group at PepsiCo, Inc.
lt;bgt; lt;/bgt;
lt;bgt;Disclosure Statement: lt;/bgt;
Building Bridges, Inc. is a registered non-profit organization. All authors are team members of Building Bridges, Inc. The views expressed in this abstract are those of the authors.