When I was a little girl, I always wanted to be a Boy Scout because
they got to go camping and build stuff. We got to make “campfires”
out of celery sticks and marshmallows. That’s why I’m so excited to
see this article in the Daily Texan about efforts by
the Girl Scouts to interest and inform girls about science and
technology through hands-on experiences.
Computer science isn’t offered at so many schools that I think
popular non-school entities picking up the slack can only help. If we
want our population to understand our discipline and be able to make
informed decisions about things like funding (never mind filling jobs
in the many awesome careers out there) they need as many
opportunities as possible to learn how fun and interesting it is and
what it is about. The Girl Scouts also have a fun website at GirlsGoTech.org.
I’m sure the Texas Girl Scouts aren’t the only ones with a program
like The EDGE. One of our local troops has had our librarian in to
talk about internet safety. I’m excited to see computer scientists
reaching out to kids. I wonder what else is out there?
Michelle Hutton
CSTA Vice President