A waterbotics challenge was held at South during weekends in November to promote middle school girls’ interest in engineering classes.

From 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Saturday, 18 seventh and eighth grade girls spent time designing and programming LEGO robots. The goal was to have the robots swim across kiddie pools of water and perform various tasks, according to Jeffrey Rylander, instructional supervisor of the Science Department. The effort was a part of Glenbrook South’s Project A.W.E.S.O.M.E., which stands for Aspiring Women Exploring Science, Mathematics and Engineering.

“Not very many girls go into [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)] fields, […] and so to give middle school girls who will soon be South students kind of a positive experience with some of the opportunities that they’ll have when they get here, we wanted to encourage them to participate,” Rylander said.

The goal of the program was in part to encourage enrollment in Project Lead The Way (PLTW) classes and to introduce a new STEM curriculum to the middle schoolers, according to Rylander. The curriculum will connect the students’ science class and engineering elective so that the information from the two build on one another.

“In physics they might learn about forces and accelerations and energy or something,” Rylander said. “In [their engineering class] they’ll learn about how to use a 3D printer. But then, together, they’re going to do a project where they have to design a roller coaster using the laws of physics and actually build it using what they’ve learned in [engineering].”

In addition to learning more about their class options at South, the middle schoolers were introduced to older girls with the same interests. Senior Gabriela Almeida was one of three South girls from the Engineering Physics class who worked at the event.

“They didn’t know about the program or how to build something with the LEGOs, so we helped them,” Almeida said.

According to Rylander, female engineers from the community made appearances as well to serve as role models for the middle school and high school girls.

“[They came] to just rub shoulders with the girls, talk to them, be mentors to them, just kind of examples,” Rylander  said.

According to Almeida, the program was a new and exciting experience. Working with the middle school girls was more fun than she had initially expected.

“The interaction with other girls who are trying to become what you are, you feel a connection with them, as in trying to build and create and all that,” Almeida said.