Sun Shines on Math Options
College offers a weeklong camp for girls
Girls entering ninth and tenth grades this fall are invited to apply to participate in a weeklong math and science camp at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, next month.
Math Options Summer Camp will be held on campus Monday, July 14 through Friday, July 18. Hands-on workshops, activities and lab experiences led by Penn State Behrend faculty are designed to help girls discover more about the academic and career opportunities available to them in math, engineering, technology and the sciences.
The camp meets between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. each day and is an extension of the Math Options Career Day held at the college each May. Most recently, 246 seventh- and eighth-grade girls from 40 schools in Erie, Crawford, Potter and Warren counties attended workshops such as “Neuroanatomy: Why Little Bo Peep’s Sheep is Lost,” “I.D. Dasie: The Design Process,” and “Zoo Math.” To see photos of the 2008 career day, click here.
“Studies have shown that a girl’s interest in a career in the science, technology, engineering or math fields is developed long before her high school graduation,” said Barbara Hido, coordinator for Math Options Summer Camp and a former middle-school life science teacher. “Math Options is designed to challenge and motivate girls to take the math and science courses before they pick up on the cultural message that those subjects are ‘too hard’ or ‘no fun.’”
Tuition for Math Options Summer Camp is $125; full and half scholarships are available to girls demonstrating financial need. The camp tuition includes daily lunch, snacks, all materials, and a camp T-shirt. Transportation to and from the camp is not provided, but scholarship students will receive an EMTA bus pass.
For additional Math Options Summer Camp information or an application, contact Hido at 814-898-6103 or e-mail bjh29@psu.edu.