Moxie Girls
The Moxie Girl Mission Statement:
We are a STEM and Computer Science program for middle school girls with the mission of getting to the girls before the stereotype gets to them.
The Moxie Girls is an all-girls after-school program was created to help get girls interested and involved in STEM and Computer Science fields where females are grossly underrepresented. The club is designed to empower girls by exposing them to the many benefits and opportunities available to them within these fields. As the girls gain confidence and familiarity with STEM and Computer Science, they are given opportunities to go out and share their stories with others whether that is through social media, speaking engagements, or working one-on-one with younger groups of students. The stories the Moxie Girls share inspire others and help to break down the stereotypes surrounding girls and their capabilities in STEM and Computer Science. We look for ways to participate in outreach that will be impactful and get girls to be bold and explore what STEM holds for them.
This year we have 14 Moxie Girls ranging from 6th-8th grade. Many of the girls had little, to no prior experience with STEM and Computer Science before joining the club. During the course of this year the girls have had several hands-on experiences with robotics, coding, drones, and much more. In September they were invited to tour Choice Hotel's tech headquarters and join Women Who Code for their expert panel presentation. In March they were also invited to tour Maricopa County Department of Transportation for a special "Girls in Engineering" tour that was created specifically for the Moxie Girls in an effort to inspire the next generation of female engineers.
When trying to decide on what project the Moxie Girls would complete for the LA Promise Fund, we wanted to make sure to expand on things they were passionate about and had positive experiences with this year. Because of their involvement in First Lego League at the beginning of the year, robotics was at the top of that list. The girls wanted to take what they had learned and loved from coding the EV3 robots and carry that over to robots that would be a little more user friendly for a variety of ages. They chose to purchase 4 Cue Robots to allow them to create mini lessons they could bring in to the younger grade classrooms at our school. Their idea was that by working closely with these younger grades and getting them excited about coding and robotics, they would be planting seeds of interest for STEM and coding while these students are still very young. Having the Moxie Girls lead these lessons would also give girls visible female role models which would help to eliminate the idea that robotics, coding, and STEM is more for boys than it is for girls.
The other big idea the girls decided to move forward on was to expand our collection of drones and share their love for drones with a broader audience. To best accomplish this task the girls set their sights on hosting International Drone Day on our campus. This was an audacious goal and one that they poured countless hours into as they prepared for their big day. Drones are a growing industry packed with countless avenues for job opportunities. We wanted to host an event that would put drones into the hands of girls and show them just how much fun they are to use and how many avenues drone piloting can open in their future. To help reinforce this message the girls worked closely with the international organization, Women Who Drone to get ideas of things they could include and focus on at their event. Representatives from this amazing organization even joined us on the big day!