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Our Executive Director Leans In .................... pg.2The Power of Dreams ..................................... pg.4Role Models on the Hill ................................. pg.5
The Noyce Foundation, A Valued Partner ..... pg.6Techbridge Girls Learn About the Cloud at Salesforce.com ..........................pg.7
inside this issue
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For families & friends of Techbridge Fall 2013
monster pins, learn about Snap Circuits, and play video games the girls designed.
“I enjoyed hear-ing the speeches the girls made before the movie. They were definitely from the heart and made me think what a positive influence Techbridge is having on these students,” said attendee Yoshito Grippin.
Thank you to all our attendees, our sponsors Chevron and Hood & Strong, and to Pixar Animation Studios. Your generous support made it a night to remember.
Techbridge Event at Pixar a
Monster Success!
Techbridge goes Hollywood in Em-eryville! Pixar Animation Studios, creator of some of the most beloved animated films of all time, generously opened its doors for a special evening to benefit Techbridge. The event was attended by 235 guests and raised $50,000 in funding. The festivities included a reception, silent auction, access to the Disney•Pixar’s Art Gallery and a pre-release screening of Monsters University.
Techbridge girls and alumnae shared the positive impact science, technol-ogy and engineering has had on them. Since it wouldn’t be Techbridge with-out hands-on experiences, girls took the lead in helping guests create LED Techbridge staff at Pixar
Reading Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In reminded me of defining moments in my life—when I didn’t lean in because I was afraid that I might not be good enough to take on a new job or when I took on an opportunity that proved both challenging and rewarding. What mattered for me was having a safety net—a network of friends or mentors who were there to listen, counsel, and encourage me to stretch myself.
Here at Techbridge we launched our book club with Lean In. There was no shortage of points of view expressed in our discussion. While we may have dif-fered in where we stand on some of the topics raised by Sheryl, we agreed that we want to take action to encourage Techbridge girls to lean in to opportu-nities that will enhance their futures.
As adults, we can support girls in their engagement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and in their plans for the future. We see considerable differences among girls in our Techbridge programs. Some have resources that give them privileges—making it easier for them to speak up, thrive on challenges, and jump on op-portunities. They have a certain energy that invites adults into their lives who recognize their potential and extend resources to help them grow. What about the girl who is reluctant to speak up? The girl who sits back and gets lost in the crowd, in the classroom, or on a field trip? We recognize the poten-tial in these girls and from experience know that we can make a difference for them. In our Techbridge after-school programs, teachers and coordinators
work to make every girl comfortable with stepping up to challenges and opportunities. They nudge them to par-ticipate in discussions, to take the lead on a project, or to ask a role model for her business card. These random acts of support build up and over time make a difference.
Won’t you join us in encouraging girls by your personal and collective effort to inspire a girl to change the world, through science, technology, or engineering?
Thank you, Sheryl, for starting the conversations that are supporting a movement to encourage girls to lean in to today’s opportunities and become the leaders of tomorrow.
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techbridgetalk
FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
1) Board of Directors chair Jane Doty MacKenzie with Sulley 2) Janet Auer from Chevron hangs with a Lego Woody 3) Executive Director Linda Kekelis with alumnae Juliana Velez and Priscilla Chang 4) Techbridge girls handing out goodie bags 5) Techbridge girls help guests make LED monsters
More Highlights from Pixar Event Benefitting Techbridge
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“I am so grateful to have the freedom to get an education without going through
the obstacles that these girls go through.”
not everybody takes school seriously. Many students at my school take it for granted. Not only do they think school is not important, but they feel like they don’t need it in their life. I want kids my age to know about these girls in this movie and how they really want an education, but can’t have it. I want to help end this injustice against young girls.
At first, I didn’t know what it would take to get a movie screened, but I was motivated to try. I was really excited that a portion of the ticket sales goes toward the organization 10X10, which funds education opportunities for girls around
the world. To my surprise, the screening sold out.
After watching this documentary, I am so grateful to have the freedom to get an education without going through the obstacles that these girls go through. It made me more aware of what’s happening to girls in different countries. I hope everybody has the chance to watch this film.
Hello, my name is Tamia Operario. I am an eighth grader and Techbridge girl at Montera Middle School in Oakland, CA. I organized a screening for the documentary, Girl Rising, at Jack London Cinema. The movie tells the stories of nine girls in different countries -- each has a dream of attending school but faces challenges such as arranged marriages, child slavery, and other heart-breaking injustices. Despite these obstacles, the brave girls offer hope and inspira-tion. By getting an education, they’re able to break barriers and create change.
My mom, who works at Holy Names University, first told me about the documentary. One of her co-workers was screening the movie in another city and she asked me if I would be interested in screening the film in Oakland. She explained that girls in different countries want an education but can’t get one. I thought about it for a minute. I became inspired to work on this project because
Girl Rising: Techbridge Girl Inspired to Make a Difference
To us, it couldn't be clearer. One of the biggest deterrents to getting girls in STEM is the messaging culture sends them. Girls need to hear that engineers are creative problem-solvers who make a difference -- and that they too can succeed.
This year's Summer Academy, Girls Go Global, gave girls the chance to try on the role of engineers working on problems from around the world. They learned about challenges people in developing nations may face meeting daily needs related to water, food, energy, and sanitation. From role models, they heard about solutions being created across the globe. Working in teams, they designed, built, and tested their own solutions, including biomass-burning stoves and LED lights. These girls tackled some of the world's biggest problems and took away the message that they can make a difference.
Girls Go Global in Techbridge’s Summer Academy
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techbridgetalk
The Power of Dreams
Thanks to the American Honda Foundation, Girls Go Tech-bridge has expanded in 2013 to include two new Girl Scout councils, the Girl Scouts of Eastern South Carolina, head-quartered in Charleston, and the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio, based in Cincinnati. With the addition of these two partners, Girls Go Techbridge is now in 17 councils across the country. Established in 2008, this national outreach program brings Techbridge curricula and career resources to Girl Scout councils using proven activities in a box. Girls Go Techbridge promotes innovation through design challenges that introduce science and engineering concepts while fos-tering creativity and critical thinking.
Our partnership with Honda will allow us to open doors for outreach in several communities. The Florence, South Caro-
Honda employees in South Carolina with Techbridge staff.
lina Honda All-Terrain Vehicle plant hosted a Techbridge role model training for their employees to practice techniques for engaging girls, which helped them become skilled facilita-tors of the engineering activities. Honda employees are ex-cited and ready to assist at upcoming Girl Scout programs.
Techbridge thanks the American Honda Foundation for its generous support of Girls Go Techbridge. You can see this program in action in a video filmed by the American Honda Foundation.
WATCH US IN ACTION.Visit: http://goo.gl/VRnf4
How long have you been working with Techbridge? This is my second year as a Techbridge Teacher. I teach 8th grade science and have been teaching at Montera for four years.
What do you most enjoy about be-ing part of Techbridge? I enjoy the science and I particularly enjoy working with girls. I’ve always been interested in the development of girls as I love seeing the girls learning and being excited about science. A lot of girls assume that science isn’t their thing, but when you make it relevant to them, you hear them say, “I do like science and math.”
Why do you feel science, technology and engineering education in after school is so important? It is important that the girls are exposed to those fields as soon as possible so they know what careers are possible. Science and engineering build girls’ confidence. I’ve seen Tech-bridge girls showing more confidence in group projects and presentations and this is what employers and col-leges are looking for.
How has being in Techbridge im-pacted you? Teaching students how to work to-gether is one of the key skills middle schools students need to learn. By
seeing the Techbridge curriculum, it’s made me think about how to enhance my cur-riculum. I used to just do content review, and now I’ve been integrating design challenges. I see kids who don’t excel on content, but really excel learning through hands-on activities like building a tower with minimal resources.
with Techbridge Teacher – Kayla ZealQ&A
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Techbridge trained the role models on the type of infor-mation they should share with girls and how to effectively facilitate hands-on activities. One role model shared, “The
Techbridge program provided very useful information. Everything they shared seemed practical and easy to imple-ment.” In addition to the training, participants attended breakout sessions on STEM messaging and working with diverse populations.
Participants came from a wide range of agencies including the National Institutes of Health, NASA, and the Depart-ment of Energy. Patricia Falcone, Associate Director for National Security and International Affairs of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, gave the closing remarks. Her words were met with enthusiasm and a renewed passion to reach out to encourage girls in STEM. Stay tuned for future collaborations between Techbridge and federal STEM workers.
Role Models on the HillIn March 2013, Techbridge collaborated with the National Girls Collaborative Project, FabFems, and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to train federal STEM employ-ees in Washington, DC. The event was part of the Equal Futures Partnership, a White House-led initiative to promote the advancement of women. One important area of focus for the initiative is advancement in STEM. The day began with a panel of speakers including local officials, followed by a group of girls sharing their experiences and perspectives, and Rebecca Spyke Kyser, Associate Deputy Administrator for Strategy and Policy at NASA.
The event, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Office of Personnel Man-agement, drew in 150 federal STEM employees and reached many more through a live webcast to all federal agencies.
Role models building the tallest tower that can support a golf ball.
“The Techbridge program provided very useful information. Everything they shared seemed practical and easy to implement.”
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TECHBRIDGE ALUMNAE: INSPIRING ROLE MODELS
“Techbridge awakened a desire in me to pursue a degree in science. This program has opened many doors to me. I am so thankful and proud to say that I’ve been part of Techbridge.”
– Techbridge alumna, Maria.
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The Noyce Foundation – A Valued Partner
Techbridge is proud to recognize the Noyce Foundation as a valued partner in expanding our impact nationally. The Foundation was created by the Noyce family in 1990 to honor the memory and legacy of Dr. Robert N. Noyce, co-founder of Intel and inventor of the integrated circuit which fueled the personal computer revolution and gave Silicon Valley its name. “The Foundation’s field building goals and
the mission of Techbridge are closely aligned. We both sup-port opportunities for youth to engage in hands-on science in out-of-school-time settings. These experiences promote science literacy and career exploration,” stated Ron Ot-tinger, Executive Director of the Noyce Foundation.
The partnership between the Noyce Foundation and Tech-bridge began in 2008 when the Foundation funded Girls Go Techbridge. Working initially with Girl Scout councils in California, Texas, Florida and Maryland, Techbridge cre-ated innovative programs-in-a-box to teach girls science and engineering skills. Using a train-the-trainer approach, Techbridge assisted councils in developing a corps of adult educators to bring these activities to girls. Having met with great success, the Foundation funded the scale up to 15 councils nationwide. We are deeply grateful to the board and staff of the Noyce Foundation for their commitment to Techbridge and their leadership in helping expand science learning opportunities for youth, and training and support for educators.
$100,000 and up
S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation
Chevron
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
National Science Foundation
Noyce Foundation
$50,000 to $99,999
American Honda Foundation
$25,000 to $49,999
Amgen Foundation
Gregory and E.J. Milken Foundation
Motorola Solutions Foundation
Paul Scammell Foundation
$10,000 to $24,999
Cisco Foundation
Comcast Foundation
Genentech
Google Community Grants (Fund of Tides Foundation)
Intel
Oracle
SanDisk Foundation (an advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation)
$5,000 to $9,999
Motorola Mobility Foundation
The Clorox Company
Foundation (Fund of the East Bay Community Foundation)
$1,000 to $4,999
Autodesk
Clarity Innovations, Inc.
Hood & Strong, LLP
Oakland Athletics Baseball
Stellar Solutions
Zynga
Techbridge Corporate and Foundation Donors 2013
$1,000 and up Anonymous Martha and Jim Bauman Kim Ondreck Carim Lyn Gomes Linda Kekelis Laurel Lee Jane Machin Jane Doty MacKenzie and David MacKenzie
$100 to $999 Anonymous Amy Connors Bena Currin Jennifer Diaz Cathy Gomes Christine Haswell Laura Hazen
Libby Hazen, Carolyn McCarthy and Laura McCarthy and families - In honor of Robert Olla Alison Hughes Rick Johnston Josetta Jones David Kraska Kai N. Lee Ryan McNeely Jon Mires Louise and Robert Newman Lisa Nicolini David Nix Hilary Srere Mary Kate Stimmler Ole Waldmann Rebeccah Welch Kimberly Wicoff
Donald and Judy Williams - In honor of Michelle and Thomas Warner Alexander Zwissler
Up to $99 Jennifer Bayley James Burton Alice Callen Charlotte Cheng Lenore Colarusso-Denoix Amie Gray Yoshito Grippin - In honor of Martha Pena Laura Kretschmar Roger V. Lee Melissa Ornelas Vyacheslav Orzhakhovsky Cheri Lynne Rhodes Charlotte Rodeen
Laura Shimmin Allan Souza Willard Souza Alva Svoboda Susana Tinoco Mike and Donna Van Guilder Juliana Velez Szekin Wang Andrea Wong Jessica Wong Chelsea Yost
Employee Matching Gift Support Apple Chevron The Clorox Company Intel The David and Lucile Packard Foundation PG&E
Techbridge Individual Donors 2013
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Fall 2013
“When I grow up I would like to be a technology engineer because I love using technology.”– Flor, 5th grade Techbridge student
Flor was so inspired by her experience visiting Salesforce that she shared her vision of becoming an engineer. At Techbridge, we want to make sure that girls like Flor have a chance to meet women who work in technology, and learn that curiosity is an important trait for an engineer.
What is the best way to do that? Just ask the Women in Technology group at Salesforce. They showed Flor and her classmates from Korematsu Discovery Academy and Esperanza Elementary School what computer systems and se-curity are all about. After a fun icebreaker to get to know each other, the Tech-bridge girls participated in a human sorting game to illustrate how computers compare and organize information. Girls wowed the role models with the amount of knowledge they already had about what information to keep private when interacting online. After the field trip, one girl shared that she would love to work at Salesforce because she saw “people who were having fun and working at the same time.”
During lunch, the girls asked the role models thoughtful questions about their jobs and outside lives, and afterwards went on a scavenger hunt to see the office. After this field trip, one girl shared, “I want to be an engineer when I grow up.”
The Salesforce role models enjoyed the experience so much, another trip was scheduled for the fifth graders at Lincoln Elementary School. The Salesforce Women in Technology and Engineering were all over Twitter with excitement about the girls visiting. SFDCtechwomen, “We're excited to have @techbridge-girls in our @SalesforceEng office today! Welcome, Lincoln Elementary!”
Techbridge Girls Learn about the “Cloud” at Salesforce.com
Staff
Linda Kekelis, Executive Director
Martha Bauman
Megan Davis
Jennifer Diaz
Sarah Elovich
Rachel Fryke
Matthew Hurley
Jennifer Joyce
Roshni Kasad
Molly Larkin
Emily McLeod
Debrah Miller
Kristin Mitchell
Shuby Narayanaswamy
Martha Pena
Katie Sidorsky
Gauri Vaishampayan
Jennifer Wei
Erica Wong
Board of Directors
Jane Doty MacKenzie, Chair
Kim Ondreck Carim, Treasurer
Lyn Gomes, Secretary
Amy Connors
Delida Costin
Linda Kekelis
Laurel Lee
Reena Singhal Lee
Jane Machin
Alex Zwissler
Designer
Karas / Lawrence
Printer
Thank you to Solstice Press for its generous contribution toward printing this newsletter.
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$50 provides Snap Circuits to help girls discover their "inner electrical engineer"
$100 funds a power saw to build prototypes and girls' confidence
$250 gives girls hands-on projects for exploring “green” building construction
$500 funds an iPad for aspiring computer scientists to learn to code
$750 transports girls on field trips where they can imagine their future
$1,000 brings 3-D printing to high school girls exploring new technologies
$______ Other - support your own dream for a Techbridge girl
Curiosity + Exploration = Innovation + OpportunityIt all adds up! Your support of Techbridge girls during their early years can provide the formula for a successful career in science, technology or engineering.
Here are just some of the many ways your gift can support Techbridge girls:Please make your
tax-deductible contribution by using the envelope
provided or visit our website at www.techbridgegirls.org/donate
to make your gift electronically.
Thank you for your support!
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& inspiring a girl to change the
world!
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