{"138471":{"#nid":"138471","#data":{"type":"news","title":"TEC Camp Inspires Future Female Engineers","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMaking physics and aeronautics concepts as interesting as the \u201cHunger Games\u201d trilogy or the latest smartphone app is one of the challenges that Hernando Jimenez enjoys most about working with Georgia Tech\u2019s TEC Camp.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt can be intimidating,\u201d said Jimenez, a research engineer in the School of Aerospace Engineering, who has been an instructor for the camp since 2008. \u201cBut it\u2019s very rewarding to observe campers having fun and becoming genuinely intrigued about the different concepts they are learning while putting them into practice. It is also rewarding to see them realize that engineering is not beyond them and that they can in fact be quite successful at it.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe camp was created in 2001 by the Women in Engineering program at Tech to provide middle school-aged girls with an opportunity to come to campus for a week and engage in hands-on engineering and computing activities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis year\u2019s camp welcomed 40 rising seventh and eighth graders. The girls were split into teams of 10, with each team being guided throughout the week by two junior counselors (high school-aged girls who are program alumnae) and senior counselors (female engineering students at Tech).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEach day, the girls took part in hands-on classes focusing on topics such as aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, web design, acoustics, transportation engineering and presentation skills. The camp classes are taught by Tech professors, graduate students and women from the community who work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to the classes, fun activities such as a luncheon with an undergraduate student panel, a picnic and outdoor games and a celebration dinner at the end of the week, which parents are invited to, are also sprinkled into the schedule each year.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe girls really seem to enjoy the variety of hands-on, interactive activities they participate in,\u201d said Ann Blasick, associate director of Women in Engineering. \u201cOf course, they also enjoy getting to know the engineering students and faculty, as well as one another.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis was the first year Juandalyn Richards, a school technology specialist for Fulton County Schools, sent her daughter, 13-year-old Zharia, to the camp.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cShe\u2019s already told me that she wants to be a biomedical engineer,\u201d Richards said. \u201cThis camp allows our young daughters the opportunity to gain exposure to engineering and the many opportunities that exist for women.\u201d \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERegistration for the 2013 camp will open in February and can be completed at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.coe.gatech.edu\/wie\u0022\u003Ewww.coe.gatech.edu\/wie\u003C\/a\u003E. The cost to attend the camp is $250.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more information, contact \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:ann.blasick@coe.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EBlasick\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMaking physics and aeronautics concepts as interesting as the \u201cHunger Games\u201d trilogy or the latest smartphone app is one of the challenges that Hernando Jimenez enjoys most about working with Georgia Tech\u2019s TEC Camp.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Making physics and aeronautics concepts as interesting as the \u201cHunger Games\u201d trilogy or the latest smartphone app is one of the challenges that Hernando Jimenez enjoys most about working with Georgia Tech\u2019s TEC Camp."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2012-07-02 11:29:22","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:12:29","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-07-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2012-07-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"138481":{"id":"138481","type":"image","title":"TEC Camp","body":null,"created":"1449178698","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:38:18","changed":"1475894769","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:09","alt":"TEC Camp","file":{"fid":"194875","name":"camp_rocketlaunch.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/camp_rocketlaunch_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/camp_rocketlaunch_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3349586,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/camp_rocketlaunch_0.jpg?itok=6oQ7w0O0"}}},"media_ids":["138481"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.coe.gatech.edu\/wie","title":"Women in Engineering"}],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"6850","name":"kids"},{"id":"167366","name":"summer camps"},{"id":"37531","name":"TEC Camp"},{"id":"37541","name":"teenagers"},{"id":"4735","name":"women engineers"},{"id":"1235","name":"women in engineering"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:ann.blasick@coe.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAnn Blasick\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWomen In Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}