Blog
Choice Hotels Visit
The mother of one of the Moxie Girl Alumni contacted us to ask if we would come tour the Choice Hotels tech headquarters. They had a group of women who were graduating from a coding program and the hotel was putting on an incredible panel of speakers from Women Who Code to come to speak to the new graduates. The Moxie Girls were asked to come and share about their club and story and to give them an opportunity to see and speak first hand with several females in the tech industry. The girls learned about how computer programming is utilized throughout the hotel chain including through advertising, sales, and customer service. The girls were completely floored by what they saw and experienced. One of our Moxie Girls was given the chance to share her personal story. Jeanette did a beautiful job speaking boldly about her own journey and there was not a dry eye in sight wen she was done.
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Maricopa Department of Transportation
In March the girls were invited to Maricopa Department of Transportation to tour their facility and hear about the many career opportunities girls have in the field of engineering. Their hope is to educate girls about what opportunities are out there for them and help draw more females into a field that is heavily dominated by males. The girls were treated to an amazing tour to see the behind the scenes of how traffic flow is monitored and improved, what steps go into the chemistry of making asphalt and concrete, and to meet the heroes who come out to assist with traffic flow when there is an accident or other situation impeding the steady flow of traffic in an area. It was amazing opportunity for the girls to meet female engineers and hear about what they do each day.
Moxie Mentors 1st Grade with the Cue Robots
This year the Moxie Girls participated in the First Lego League where many of the girls experienced coding robots for the first time. The girls quickly discovered how much they loved working with robotics! After the FLL season ended, the girls wanted to find another way to continue working with robots in a way that would make an impact on others. They came up with the idea of having part of their LA Promise Fund project be focused on mentoring younger grades in robotics and STEM to provide them with hands-on experience with coding and robotics. One of the first grade teachers at our school has done an amazing job incorporating the Dot and Dash robots into her curriculum. When she heard about our plan to purchase the Cue robots, she reached out and asked if the girls would provide her students with several mini lessons with the Cues. Because of the amazing things she saw the girls doing with the Cues, she decided to write a grant request for two Cue Robots for her class as well. The girls spoke with Mrs. Mayfield to set up the times they would be able to come in to deliver the lessons. She gave them a little background of what they had already done with the Dot and Dash robots so the girls could build upon that prior knowledge.
The Moxies spent time working with the Cues to learn about what could be done with them. They were able to pick things up quickly and they took notes on which things they were going to focus on teaching the first graders.
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Once the dates had been set and the lessons had been decided on, the girls headed into the first grade pod for some fun. The kids were SO excited to have the older girls coming into their class to teach them about robotics. The first graders did an extraordinary job driving and then coding their robots. The kids are excited for the Moxie Girls' next visit in a week and sent the girls with requests and suggestions for some specific challenges they would like to try next. The best part of the first meeting was hearing the girls talking to the class about Moxie Girls and having several girls raise their hands saying they want to be Moxie Girls when they are older too so they can interact with so many different tech tools.
Clips19-05-05_06-27.movInternational Drone Day
On May 4th, the Moxie Girls hosted this year's 2019 International Drone Day. The girls have really begun to explore drones and all of their many uses within a variety of fields. We were able to purchase a few Tello drones at the beginning of the year through a mini grant from APS. The Moxie Girls decided they wanted to focus on drones for part of their project for the LA Promise Fund. Through research and conversations with female drone pilots the girls recognized that drone piloting is another heavily male-dominated field. The girls wanted to do something that could help shift that pattern and begin to plant seeds of interest for girls to start taking a closer look at all of the possibilities that this field has to offer them. They brainstormed what might be the best way to promote the positive ways drones are being used, educate others about drone safety, and showcase how to use drones responsibly. Their ultimate hope for the event was to inspire girls to get excited about drones and learn more about all the ways drones are being used in a multitude of careers . We are very fortunate that one of our very own Moxie Girls is quite an expert drone pilot. Sophie's knowledge and willingness to share it was key for the girls as they moved forward in the process of putting together the components of International Drone Day. In preparation for the big day, Sophie walked the girls through drone safety and the process of coding and piloting the Tello drones.
The girls were quick studies and were flying confidently in no time! They familiarized themselves with the Tello app and then took some time to take a look at the Drone Block app as well to see the difference between manually flying the drones and coding them for their flights.
We were ecstatic when we found out that Women Who Drone wanted to join us for our event! They agreed to set up a table and do a presentation about the ways the women in their organization are using drone technology in their careers. The news just kept getting better and better from there. We received word that the local AUVSI Chapter had agreed to donate 3 DJI Tello drones for us to raffle off at the event. Being able to send drones home with some of our attendees was going to be a wonderful way to generate excitement about the event and extend the scope of the day's impact on the participants.
The girls got right to work making signs and posters for the event. They circulated fliers at our school's STEAM Night to promote the big day. They began gathering materials to make the course and worked hard to spread the word to as man people as possible.
After months of planning, the day had finally arrived! The girls helped set up the outside race course and discussed the best ways to make sure people stayed safe while utilizing the course. They assisted guests as they piloted Tello drones through obstacle courses that were set up inside. The girls soaked up the stories and wisdom shared by the impressive speakers we were lucky enough to have join us. The guests especially loved hearing how drones are used for security for celebrities like Taylor Swift and at sporting events like a Patriots' game.
The girls were able to make sure that every attendee had a chance to try their hand at flying the drones. Many kids had never flown a drone before the event and judging by the smiles on their faces as they left, I think it is likely it won't be the last time they fly! The raffled off drones were a HUGE hit and one is even making its way back to Columbia with the exchange student who is a teacher there and was in attendance at the event. He has been trying to find a way to bring drone technology into his class and we think this will be a great way to kick things off!
GIRLS4 TECH Hackathon
One of our Moxie Girls Sophie had the opportunity to compete in the 'Girls4TECH Takes Flight Hackathon,' in Dallas. There were 50 girls from all over the country who were challenged to come up with an innovative solution to humanitarian challenges.
All of the Moxie Girls were very proud that Sophie was going to fly to Dallas to do this. We all missed her at International Drone Day, but we were blown away. Sophie worked with a group of girls who were passionate about reducing the number of animals being euthanized at shelters. They created an app in tow days that would give a full history and bio of each animal including allergies, personalities, and medical history. The app would be set up by regions. The first part of the process was that they had to pitch it to a small select group of individuals and fellow competitors at the hackathon. The top 5 finalists advanced to the next phase which involved pitching their ideas on stage to 1,500 people that were there for an American Airlines/American Express conference. Sophie's mom did not want to tell Sophie the next phase of the competition because she did not want her to have any anxiety and psyche herself out about what she is capable of achieving. When they came in they were told they had to pitch this to everyone in attendance. Sophie stepped onto the stage and completely shed the anxiety and shed her shy demeanor. Sophie was very passionate about their proposal and what they created she stepped in as the leader and delivered the most amazing pitch!!! This pitch ultimately led them to being named the 1st place winners in the first ever 'Girls4TECH Takes Flight Hackathon!' We are so proud of Sophie for taking a chance and ultimately being part of a team that finished in 1st place.
End of the Year Video
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