What a great idea!
Here's a philanthropy project called
Science Exploration Day that our Alpha Chapter does. The news article is dated, however my Sisters do this every year, and it's a great hit with the school-aged girls. You can read the article at
http://www.it.umn.edu/inventing/98summer/sorority.html, or the full text is below.
The science behind the sorority
The University [of Minnesota] is home to the first chapter of Alpha Sigma Kappa, a sorority for women in technical studies. Each year, its members sponsor an event to interest young girls in science and engineering.
by Paul Sorenson and David Hyland
It was a visit to Emily Eelkema's high school by University professors that propelled her interest in aerospace engineering. This spring, the IT senior returned the favor.
Eelkema and other members of Alpha Sigma Kappa, a sorority for women in technical studies, brought more than 50 middle school girls to campus in May for the group's fourth annual Science Exploration Day.
Jenny Cordina, the sorority's scholastic chair and the project's chief organizer, says the purpose of the event is to get young girls excited about science and engineering.
"We want to show them that women can be scientists and engineers, that it can be cool, and that we aren't all technical nerds," she says.
To generate interest in the event, sorority members visited area schools to meet with classes of girls and invite them to attend. According to aerospace engineering senior Dorothea Czernik, they were met with a surprising level of enthusiasm.
"When we told them to sign up [for Science Exploration Day] early because space was limited, one girl wanted to go home immediately and get her mother's permission to come," says Czernik. "She didn't want to miss out." As in the past, the event quickly filled to capacity.
For this year's event, sorority members designed five fun, hands-on experiments that demonstrated applications of aerospace, civil, electrical, mechanical, and chemical engineering.
The day began with a lecture from aerospace engineering professor Ellen Longmire. Using wooden planes and a model of the space shuttle currently in development, Longmire demonstrated how planes and helicopters fly.
As the day continued, the girls learned about polymers by making a Silly Putty-like substance from sodium borate and white glue. They discovered the mechanical workings of an injection molding machine that heated chocolate and forced it into the shape of Goldy Gopher, and explored aerodynamic principles by watching water flow across an airplane wing.
But the most popular experiment demonstrated the principles behind quicksand. The girls immersed their hands in a tank of wet sand that sorority members changed into quicksand by flowing water through the tank.
"Wet sand is stable," explains Cordina. "But when water flows through it, it becomes unstable. Presto! It's quicksand!"
Cordina says Science Exploration Day changes from year to year depending on the expertise of the students involved. In the past, the event has included experiments in math, physics, chemistry, geology, and statistics. Funding from the IT Student Board and the Program for Women in IT helps defray the cost of busing the girls to campus.
The sorority began as a "little sister" organization to Triangle Fraternity, a national engineering and technical fraternity. In 1989, members of that group organized what became the first chapter of Alpha Sigma Kappa, an independent social sorority for women in technical studies. A second chapter was founded at the University of Oklahoma in 1996.
According to Eelkema, the 25-member sorority is less formal than other Greek organizations at the University and emphasizes academic excellence over social activities.
She and other sorority members hope that some of the girls who attend Science Exploration Day will one day join their ranks - if not in Alpha Sigma Kappa, then in the science and engineering workforce.
"I know how important it is for students to be encouraged when they're young," says Cordina. "I was, and that's why I'm here today."
------------------
equeen
A Lioness has her Pride!
@>--;--
Alpha Sigma Kappa - Women in Technical Studies
[This message has been edited by equeen (edited October 16, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by equeen (edited October 16, 2000).]
