BY BRIDGET TURCOTTE
LYNN — More than 120 Lynn girls will learn about science and math careers Saturday.
Girls Inc. of Lynn, a non-profit organization that aims to inspire young ladies to be strong, smart and bold, will host its annual Smart Girls Summit event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The summit is designed to increase girls’ interest and participation in science, technology, engineering and math. It’s also to make them aware of the many career options available to them.
The participants are recommended by their teachers and guidance counselors for having a special interest in science and math, and come from each of Lynn’s middle schools and KIPP Academy, a charter school.
“There’s a couple of things going on with girls at this age,” said Lena Crowley, director of middle school programs. “They tend to start to turn away from STEM. We’re exposing them to these women, who have really interesting careers, and they can see that they are very fulfilling careers.”
The event will begin with a series of 40-minute workshops. Thirteen different sessions will be available, and each girl will participate in three. Each will show the girls that math, science and technology can be fun, by having them participate in hands-on experiments.
Each workshop will be taught by a local woman working in a STEM-related career. The women will talk to the girls about how they became interested in, and prepared for their careers, and what challenges they overcame.
This year, representatives from Cell Signaling Technology, Northeastern University’s Marine Science Center, the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory, the New England Veterinary Oncology Group, Salem State University, Keurig, General Electric, Deloitte and Warner Babcock Institute will all be present.
Hae Won Park, an expert in robotics who is a postdoctoral associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, will be the keynote speaker, and will talk to the girls after lunch.
Four middle school students will be recognized for participating in science and math in and out of school, Crowley said.
“In school, they’re excelling in science and math, and some of them have engineering classes,” she said. “Or they are pursuing some type of STEM activity outside of school.”
The recipients include Maisha Bellah, a student at Pickering Middle School; Virginia Christian, a student at Breed Middle School; Amia Reynoso from Thurgood Marshall Middle School; and Jazzmine Sanderson of KIPP Academy.
The summit kicks off the Eureka! summer program, which is six weeks long and available to rising seventh, eighth, and ninth grade girls. Participants take two STEM classes each morning, a personal development session called Mi Vida, Mi Viaje and two hours of sports and swimming in the afternoon.
Once a week the ladies go on an expedition, or field trip, to visit museums, labs and science centers in the area, Crowley said.
“We try to expose them to a lot of STEM places in the real world,” Crowley said. “They can see that these professions can make a big difference and are innovative and challenging.”
Ninety students are accepted to participate in Eureka! The children who complete the program are eligible for a paid internship the summer before 10th grade.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at bturcotte@itemlive.com. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.