Science for boys? Not in this summer camp. 'Girls Code the World' here

Mina Shokoufandeh remembers sitting in STEM classes, surrounded by all boys, and being told she’s not very good at math.

“Being told from a young age that you're not good at something can really be damaging,” she said.

With this in mind, Sydney Gibbard, a biomedical engineering and pre-medicine student at Penn State Schreyer Honors College, and Shokoufandeh, a biomedical sciences student at Tufts University, established Girls Code the World while juniors at The Pennington School in New Jersey in 2018.

The nonprofit aims to get more young women working in science, technology, engineering and math fields by giving them more opportunities and resources through education programs and mentorships. The group is running its summer programs at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.

Shokoufandeh, of New Hope, said along the way, the organization has created a “network of women supporting women."

“Our goal was to show girls that they can do anything related to STEM and that there are many ways for that to happen and not be discouraged by whatever messages they’ve received from society,” said Shokoufandeh. “That they can do anything in STEM that they really want to, that they’ll put their mind to.”

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Shokoufandeh and Gibbard, of Yardley, also realized they had a lot of great mentors and access to resources growing up that other girls weren’t lucky enough to have.

With both of her parents as doctors and exposure to math and science at the schools she attended, Shokoufandeh said she felt comfortable entering the STEM field but she knows that’s not the case for all girls.

“It can be hard to get involved and stay involved,” she said.

Cayleigh Haag, a senior at Central Bucks West High School and head intern for Girls Code the World, said she’s always had access to STEM-based subjects, Advanced Placement classes and encouragement from her parents to go into the STEM field.

Despite attending a school she considers to be “equally encouraging of girls and boys in the STEM fields,” Haag said she still notices a gap in her classes.

In her AP Chemistry class, she noticed a ratio of 12 boys to three girls with there being 14 boys to two girls in her AP Physics class.

Haag said the gap isn’t as present when kids are younger and part of the reason why the camps are for girls ages 8 to 12.

“It’s really important to give [girls] some confidence in their STEM abilities and for them to be exposed to things that either are in school or things that they actually might really be interested in that they don't see on a day-to-day basis,” Shokoufandeh said.

Shokoufandeh said research shows ages 10 to 13 being the time when girls start developing their sense of self and sense of identity and it’s a time for personal and intellectual development.

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As head intern of the camps, Haag said her responsibilities consist of the facilitation and organization of the 10 summer camps hosted at the Academy of Natural Sciences for girls ages 8 to 12.

The camp comprises 12 different STEM-inspired lessons, with four of them centering on coding and the others including topics such as biology, physics and chemistry.

The camp has professional speakers come in to talk about their career, how they got into the STEM field and answer any questions. The girls also receive a tour of parts of the Academy.

The camps range from eight to 12 campers, with this year being the biggest year of expansion, according to Haag.

For first-timers Autumn Harmon and Gabriella Alexander, the camp has provided them with the ability to learn how to code more and conduct experiments.

Autumn, 11, of Philadelphia, said she's always known she wanted to be involved in STEM-related activities.

For her, STEM is a way to showcase her creative side and the camp has made her more adventurous.

“I really love it. I love it. I recommend people to come here,” she said.

Gabriella, 12, of Philadelphia, said she loves the education from the camp and she’s loved STEM since she was little.

Her dad majored in engineering and taught her about it when she was younger which sparked her interest in wanting to pursue architectural engineering.

Prior to the camp, Gabriella said she wasn’t a fan of bugs, however, after touring the bug department in the Academy, she said she now wants to study entomology as well.

Being in charge of the camps, Haag said she loves seeing girls who are forced to come by their parents and unsure if they want to be there, find something they’re really interested in by the end of the week.

“The most rewarding part about working with the girls is helping them to grow in that interest and gain confidence in talking with people who are older than them and maybe have a little more experience, just giving them that opportunity,” Haag said.

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Having begun as a partnership with the Christina Seix Academy in Trenton, New Jersey, as one week of summer programming at the Pennington School to now 10 weeks of programming at the Academy, Shokoufandeh thinks the hard work, and its impact on the girls, is “worth it.”

She said the organization is funded mostly by grants and donations, with their largest grant being $15,000 from the Summer Founders Program through Invent Penn State.

Additionally, Girls Code the World established its board in the fall of 2020 and has six members.

Linda Zangrilli, Gibbard and Shokoufandeh’s mentor and chapter chair of SCORE Bucks County, a nonprofit group whose mission is to “help small businesses start, grow and prosper,” said it’s been extraordinary working with them considering their age and what they’ve accomplished.

“I’m kind of amazed that they're juggling so much,” said Zangrilli. “Really, really challenging courses, they have jobs, they're interns in the summer, they don't have a minute to spare, and yet they have that kind of drive to do this for others.”

Zangrilli said she helped Gibbard and Shokoufandeh get started on their journey by getting them set up with the nonprofit, interviewing board members, laying out rules and regulations of having a nonprofit in Pennsylvania and aiding them throughout the process.

Even though she’s the mentor, Zangrilli said she’s been able to learn so much from Gibbard, Shokoufandeh and her clients which keeps her motivated.

With college classes and internships consuming a lot of their time, Shokoufandeh said her and Gibbard assume mostly administrative roles now, with Haag taking the reins on the camps.

Going forward, Shokoufandeh said she hopes to have a full time grant committee and expand the camps to more counties like Bucks and Montgomery for next summer.

Shokoufandeh said with “a lot of certainty,” she and Gibbard are achieving their initial goal and reaching their goals every day.

“Even if it’s just a week or a few days, that has a big impact, that is now part of each of those girls’ core memories,” said Shokoufandeh. “Showing them they can do that, putting those positive messages in place as opposed to negative ones that often come as a woman in STEM.”

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Girls Code the World exposes young girls to the STEM field