Library’s STEM program for girls nets grant, praise
Make-Her receives $3K from Krause Center; series targets girls 8-12
Moving into its second year, Sunnyvale’s MakeHer series is introducing more girls to the world of STEM and tech, and netting cash and praise along the way.
Program sessions are held at the Sunnyvale Public Library. To date MakeHer has won a $3,000 grant from the Krause Center for Innovation, expanded to hold workshops at Columbia Middle School and been featured in a Harvard University publication.
The “Light, Photonics and Fun!” workshop on April 4 was packed to capacity, with girls and their mothers crowding around library tables trying to get information about the refraction of light and the inner workers of optical illusions.
“We’ve been coming since she turned 8,” said Archna Bindra, there with her daughter Saanvi Kapoor. “I think we’ve attended most of them; we’re regulars. It’s amazing, the ability for me to bring my daughter and expose her to such various fields.”
The program began in spring 2015 targeting girls ages 8-12 and their mothers or other female family members. Events typically see girls and guardians engage in two-hour workshops that incorporate science, technology, engineering and math at the library.
Make-Her was initially funded by a grant from the Pacific Library Partnership of Innovation and is currently supported by the Friends of the Sunnyvale Library. It has included classes on making light-up superhero masks, plantable eco-sculptures and wearable technology, among many other projects.
“It’s really fun and interesting, and I get to find out new things I never knew,” said Saanvi while tinkering with some of the light experiments.
According to librarian Nancy Andrus, the MakeHer program has become quite popular since its inception, with the limited available slots sometimes disappearing in minutes. Events usually have space for about 20 girls and their female guardians.
“Always on the first day, all the spots are filled,” said Andrus.
With the growth of the program at the library, Andrus said that those involved with Make-Her looked for other ways to reach out to girls who may not have the opportunity to engage in after-school STEM activities.
“I keep wondering, ’Am I reaching girls who somehow do not have a parent in tech or involved in the valley?’ I wanted to bring this kind of confidence-building, hands-on, experimental, joyful learning approach to a school,” said Andrus.
As a result, two MakeHer workshops have been held at Columbia Middle School. Themed workshops run for five weeks and see students build one project. Participants in the first workshop made increasingly more intricate objects using the library’s 3D printer.
The $3,000 Microsoft/ KCI grant will go toward funding the next Columbia Middle Make-Her series in the fall, when Andrus hopes that girls will be able to develop projects that could be entered into the Future Engineers Challenge in partnership with NASA and the ASME Foundation.
Make-Her was recently one of six programs highlighted under “Family Engagement and STEM programs” in an Ideabook published by the Harvard Family Research Project with the Public Library Association.
“I think the making approach to learning is really powerful and is something the girls may not experience in a more formal learning environment,” said Andrus.