By Bobby Ellis
bobby.ellis@education.ky.gov
For Arushi Gupta, there’s a specific goal in mind when it comes to her summer STEM camps for girls.
“We all feel like STEM is dominated by guys, so we’re out to try and make it fun,” said Gupta, as she lead a group of young girls in the Bon Air Public Library in Louisville. “We want to show young girls that there’s nothing wrong with liking things like science, math and engineering. We’re out to empower them.”
Gupta, a junior at duPont Manual High School (Jefferson County), is the Kentucky regional director of STEM You Can!, a nonprofit organization that seeks to make STEM more fun and accessible for elementary and middle school girls.
Gupta and her friend, Sanjana Kothari, founded the Kentucky chapter after reaching out to Kothari’s friend, Sabina London in New Jersey, who founded the national organization.
“It was my friend who started the actual STEM You Can! organization,” said Kothari. “And both Arushi and I were really excited to get involved, so when I reached out to her, things started moving pretty easily and pretty quickly. The organization is growing really quickly.”
On this particular day, Gupta, Kothari and two other STEM camp counselors were teaching campers about biology using several different techniques, including making a food web using yarn, making mud pudding to demonstrate biological decay and having food chain drawing contests.
If you are interested in STEM You Can! visit the group’s website to see more about its mission and find a summer camp near you.
Arushi Gupta, left, and Sanjana Kothari hand out yarn as STEM You Can! goers make a food web in a game where they decide whether a certain organism is either a producer or consumer.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, June 13, 2018
STEM You Can! campers use yarn to create a food web after choosing labels of either producers or consumers.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, June 13, 2018
Elizabeth Gallagher hands out the ingredients to make dirt pudding.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, June 13, 2018
Yasmine Legendre makes dirt pudding, used to simulate food chains and environmental ecosystems.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, June 13, 2018
Two teams of girls attempt to draw a food web the fastest during the STEM You Can! camp.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, June 13, 2018
Lila Howard and her team attempt to draw a food web as quickly as possible during a quick sketch game.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, June 13, 2018
Elizabeth Gallagher, a student at duPont Manuel (Jefferson County), leads her group in the Group Knot game at the STEM You Can! camp at the Bon Air Free Public Library in Louisville.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, June 13, 2018
Yasmine Legendre plays a game of the Group Knot, a game where teams create a knot with their arms and must untie themselves without letting go of each other’s hands, as part of a critical thinking exercise at the STEM You Can! camp.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, June 13, 2018
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