Clarkston High School was full of activity last Saturday as girls in Kindergarten through seventh grade stopped by for the first Maker Girl Mania.
While there girls were able to get a hands on experience with different activities in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields.
“Usually the Maker Girl fairs are for a huge group of people, but we really wanted to focus on girls and get them interested in engineering, coding, making, tinkering – just exposing them to different things,” said Lori Banaszak.
“We have all types of engineering here to explore ? electronics to coding to problem solving,” added Laura Kalinowski. “There is just a wide variety of something girls can connect to. We are hoping we can continue doing fun events like this in the future, too. It’s really the only thing like it in the metro Detroit area.”
Girls stopped at different activities, such as the marshmallow shooter made with PVC pipes. They tested them by shooting marshmallows at a target.
Many left with creations they made at the duct tape and picture frame activity stops while also leaving with buttons they made.
They also stopped at the robot garage, RUSH Robotics and 3D printing for more technology.
“It’s a really cool thing,” said Beth Campbell, a mom at the event.
Banaszak and Kalinowski brought it the Clarkston area because they work for Clarkston Community Schools. Banaszak is a Technology Integration Specialist and Kalinowski teaches at the high school.
“We want kids at a young age to be exposed to this that way when they get into high school they know the direction they want to go in,” said Kalinowski.
They watched all the girls smiling as they tried out each activity and felt positive by the amount of girls who came to the event.
“It’s overwhelming and positive,” Kalinowski smiled “They don’t want to leave, they want to stay. We love they want to keep tinkering and keep creating because that’s really what the message is. Their parents will encourage them to do it at home, too. This is just a launching pad.”
Banaszak added they want Maker Girl Mania to be an annual event and get more of the community involved, especially with sponsorships.
Check out Maker Girl on www.Facebook.com/MakerGirlMania or follow them on Twitter – MakerGirlMania.