New AAUW Gaylord Branch Initiative:
Helping Local Girls Attend STEM Summer Camps
STEM stands for “science, technology, engineering and math”. In an era when women are increasingly prominent in medicine, law, and business, they are under-represented in the sciences, engineering and trades (construction, welding, machining, etc). The appropriate degree and/or training can lead a young woman towards careers with amazing income potentials and future job growth. In turn, having women trained in these topics helps ensure a more diverse talent pool is available to solve many of our world’s most perplexing problems. Since 2014, the Gaylord AAUW Branch has committed much of our resources and energies towards encouraging girls and women to train for STEM careers.
STEM workshops can spark girls’ interest in high paying and rewarding careers
Beginning summer 2024, we are offering financial assistance for Otsego County girls currently in grades 7 – 11 to attend one of many summer camps specializing in STEM topics. There currently exists several multi-day camps through-out the State offering exciting and fun activities highlighting careers such as engineering, robotics, aquatic ecology, computing, welding, electricity, CNC engineering, environmental science, aviation and more. See 2024 Summer STEM Camps Listing list for more information. Click on the link for the Stem Camp flyer.
If you or someone you know is interested in applying for financial assistance to attend one of these camps, fill out the attached form. We will get back to you soon about your request. Hurry, most of these camps fill up quickly!
AAUW Gaylord Branch “Tech Savvy” Event In Review
Beginning in 2014, the AAUW Gaylord Branch organized and held an annual one-day “Tech Savvy” event in Gaylord. While our last event was in 2022, we are proud of these endeavors and know that they helped inspire many young women towards education and training in STEM related careers.
Lots of fun, hands-on activities were presented at our annual Tech Savvy events.
What is “Tech Savvy”?
Tech Savvy was a daylong conference designed for girls in sixth through ninth grade and intended to encourage them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The program was also designed to inform families about STEM education and careers, and to expand awareness of educators and other adults in understanding the important role they play in inspiring girls in these fields.
Although the program focused on exciting girls about STEM, Tech Savvy also included a simultaneous track for parents and other adults in the girls’ lives. Presentations and hands-on- activities engaged girls and broaden their exposure to the world of opportunities available to girls in STEM fields.
Tech Savvy was an annual event designed to inspire girls in 6th – 9th grades to explore opportunities in STEM while guiding their caring adults in supporting those interests. Tech Savvy was sponsored by the AAUW Gaylord Area Branch whose mission is to advance equity and education for women and girls in our local communities.
Tech Savvy 2019 Slideshow
From the Gaylord Herald Times: Tech Savvy 2018
Photo Courtesy of Gaylord Herald Times
GAYLORD — Girls from around the state made a beeline for the annual Tech Savvy STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) event for teen girls in Gaylord Saturday.
Carrie Miller, a math teacher from Tahquamenon Area Schools in the Upper Peninsula, said the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Gaylord area branch’s Tech Savvy event gives girls unique opportunities to develop connections with women.
She stressed the importance of the fifth-annual event’s full day of workshops for young girls and said Luce County, where her school is located, has very few examples of women with college degrees.
“What I have seen is some students who may have never considered going to college come here and hear that there’s opportunities for them that they didn’t know,” Miller said. “There’s just not opportunities for them to see professional women in our county … They don’t have a lot of positive female role models.”
Tech Savvy Gaylord Videos
Tech Savvy Gaylord Programs
2019 Program 2018 Program 2017 Program 2016 Program 2015 Program 2014 Program
Where Tech Savvy Started
Tech Savvy was founded in 2006 by the AAUW Buffalo (NY) Branch, under the leadership of then- branch president and Praxair employee Tamara Brown. With the support of Praxair and community groups, this annual event became a huge success, serving upwards of 700 girls and 200 parents each spring at the University of Buffalo in New York. The AAUW Gaylord Area Branch was honored in 2014 to be selected as one of ten sites chosen nationwide as a pilot for the expansion of this successful program. Working with the University Center in Gaylord (a unique collaboration among many College and University programs throughout Michigan), the AAUW Gaylord Area Branch reached girls, their families, and their teachers throughout Northern Michigan to inspire them to attend the day-long Saturday conference each year.