Sitara, our March g4g Ambassador!

Hello from g4g Ambassador Sitara!

Hello! My name is Sitara Mitragotri, and I am a junior in high school living in Massachusetts. I am interested in neuroscience and developmental psychology, and I hope to become a paediatric psychiatrist or neurologist in the future! I am also passionate about mental health advocacy and enjoy studying how it impacts women's sexual and reproductive health. Aside from STEAM, my other creative outlets include dance, visual arts, and creative writing as a means to reflect on my interests in women's health and maximising developmental outcomes in young children. I am extremely interested in how the arts can be applied to STEM to produce creative solutions to global issues!

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Sitara helping with the clothing drive for Cradles to Crayons

I joined g4g because it's so important that girls have the opportunity to explore STEM in engaging and accessible ways. As an ambassador, I hope to demonstrate to girls internationally that STEM is a creative and diverse field that can be applied to so many other areas of study! I am currently working with another ambassador on a science experiment video project for g4g that can be easily replicated by young girls in their own homes!

I was inspired by the plethora of opportunities offered by the organisation, including the g4g lab, broadcast, and g4g makerspace. I joined g4g in the summer of 2022, and I am so honoured to have the opportunity to contribute to such a collaborative, creative group of individuals working to uplift women in STEAM. I hope to bring g4g to my community to encourage more girls to explore how they can apply their interests to STEAM!

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Tell us what you are currently working on!

I am currently a volunteer for LexSeeHer, a local organisation that aims to recognise local women's contributions to the community and country. I am collaborating with them to host a LexSeeHerinSTEAM event, where we bring in alumnae from our high school to discuss current projects and how they discovered and expanded their interests in high school! I am also a member of my town's youth advisory board for mental health, where my peers and I are working to develop a platform in our community with resources for teens and parents and opportunities for teens to discuss mental health creatively. I recently became an ambassador for Girls Global Health, and I am writing an article on the recent crackdown on child marriages in Assam, India.

Sitara helping with the clothing drive for Cradles to Crayons

Sitara teaching a creative writing lesson a community center for adults living with a mental illness

Sitara helping with the clothing drive for Cradles to Crayons

Julia, our February g4g Ambassador!

Hello from Ambassador Coordinator Julia!

Hi! I am Julia Kerpel. You know me as g4g’s Ambassador Coordinator. I’m also an international karate competitor, Zumba instructor, Mathlete, and drum major of my high school band!

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Tell us how g4g inspired you!

Julia training at her karate dojo

g4g inspired me to share my passion for STEM with girls all over the world! Before COVID, I became one of the youngest licenced Zumba instructors in the USA. When Illinois schools shut down in March 2020, I turned my family’s unfinished basement into a fitness studio and began teaching free Zumba Kids classes online. To keep kids’ minds and bodies active, I added STEM crafts to the end of classes. I was appointed Ambassador Coordinator in February 2021 after becoming a g4g Ambassador in October 2020. I love working with g4g Ambassadors all over the world and helping them turn their ideas for projects into reality!

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Tell us what you are currently working on!

I am currently in my senior year of high school, which means college is just a few short months away! I am waiting to hear back from university programmes and plan to study civil and structural engineering in the fall. I hope to encourage girls everywhere to keep their bodies and minds active, to pursue STEM, and to remember the g4g motto, which has become my personal mantra: Anything is possible!

Julia won two bronze and a silver medal at the Maccabiah Games this past summer

 Julia on the drum major ladder at her high school’s American football game

Julia and the marching band at Northwestern High School Band Day

Let's inspire 50,000 more future female scientists in 2023!

Is it already a month into 2023?! Time flies at a lightning speed 🚀, doesn’t it?

We are still buzzing from an incredible 2022 and gearing up for an even more exciting year ahead! Over the last 12 months, we inspired 7,014 young g4g superstars across 11 countries with more than 35 projects and 426 mentors to create more than 270 sustainable future inventions – tallying us up to over 58,400 inspired students since 2010. And guess what? The g4g team is working magic behind the scenes to reach 50,000 more girls this year!!!

With our lab coats and goggles on, our team has been diving into the creative design process to develop the funnest, quirkiest, and most exciting STEM projects and events for 2023. At g4g, we dream BIG and with our eyes wide open because more girls need STEM opportunities now more than ever. A small but mighty g4g team is ready to make it happen!

You want to be a part of it too? Keep reading to see how you can help us to encourage the next generation of female scientists!

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The month ahead

On February 9, we are excited to host our first in-person event of the year,  g4g STEM Expl💡ratoria in Paris in collaboration with Avantor Foundation. We are inviting female students aged 14 to 18 to Explore, Discover, and Design "the Lab of the Future." All inspired by our very own g4g STEM design process, we will learn how to design amazing inventions, meet incredible scientists, and engage in hands-on science workshops. It’s not too late YET! Grab your chance to become an inventor NOW!

On February 10, we are heading to Portugal for our first g4g STEM Expl💡ratoria in Lisbon with OLX. We are challenging 50 young female STEM adventurers to design “the Classroom of the Future,” and reimagine how scientific research can be more innovative, inclusive, and accessible. Throughout the event, girls will learn from OLX role models while engaging in the design thinking process to create inventions for their future sustainable classrooms.

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Meet our g4g Ambassador

Let us introduce you to one of our Ambassadors – Julia! She is an engineer, environmentalist, and sports enthusiast! Did you know that Julia attended g4g Day Brussels in 2013 when she was only 12 years old? She recalls, "When I attended my first g4g day in Brussels, I came back buzzing from a day packed with hands-on science workshops, eager to discover the new areas of STEM, I want to help more girls experience what I did that day." And 10 years later, she is studying to become a Bioengineer!  That’s a g4g dream come true! And guess what? You can find Julia supporting the g4g team at our upcoming event in Paris, where she will help light the "STEM spark" in all of our female STEM adventurers! 

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Behind the scenes at g4g

As we prepare to make 2023 our year of BIG impact, we are cooking up new magical potions to reach more than 50K girls all around the world. Of course, all while having fun! On the top left, you can see that we received amazing holiday cards all the way from Boston with fun stickers. It made our day! On the top right, say hi to Aimée and her incredible daughter! Aimée is our new admin coordinator, and we are thrilled to have her with us. And finally, you can see the g4g Team in action and wishing you a Happy New Year (it’s never too late, right?).

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Global opportunities for Young STEM leaders

We strive to reach every nook and cranny of the globe, and we will! In the meantime, here are a few global opportunities for you to participate in STEM and educational activities with some of our partners and friends:

🌸 Register for an event during Girl on the Move Week and discover industrial and technical professions in STEM!
🌸 Apply for the Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellowship and be a part of an Exchange Program in the United States!
🌸 Apply to join The Adolescent Girls Advisory Council at Global Fund for Women!
🌸 Register to attend 2 online webinars organised  by World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts!

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Are you ready to join us in our efforts to reach 50K more girls?

Here’s how you can help us which doesn’t cost any money (we know it sounds like a scam, but we promise it’s legit)

🚀 Like, comment, and share our posts on social media (see our links at the bottom).
❤️ Share your experiences on your social media and tag us.
😊 Spread the word among your friends and family.
✍️ Sign up to our newsletter.
👩‍🔬 Volunteer for us.

Every action count when we are working to inspire more girls in STEM! 👩‍🔬🧪🧬

And, of course, we always appreciate financial support if that’s possible for you (but no pressure, really!). It’s the support of our amazing community that helps us give more girls a greenlight in STEM around the world, and thank you for being part our impact!

Julia, our January g4g Ambassador!

Hello, I’m Julia!

Hello, I’m Julia Whitehead, an engineer, environmentalist, and sports enthusiast! I am currently studying Bioengineering at Loughborough University (UK), a combination of life sciences with the problem solving and creative nature of engineering, which I love!

Bioengineers drive change at the intersection of many fields, for instance, by designing affordable prosthetics, using artificial intelligence for cancer diagnosis, or even engineering the next generation of plant-based meats. In my spare time, I love planning football games, running, climbing, and all outdoor sports in general!

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Tell us how g4g inspired you!

Running Spaghetti-Marshmallow workshop at g4g 10th anniversary event

When I attended my first g4g day in Brussels in 2013 (I was about 12), I came back buzzing from a day packed with hands-on science workshops, eager to discover all the new areas of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). I wanted to help more girls experience what I experienced that day. Today, g4g continues to inspire me by lighting up the "STEM spark" in so many young girls’ minds, an important first step in closing the gender gap in engineering, for instance.

Over the last four years as an ambassador for g4g, I’ve been lucky enough to volunteer at several events, meet other ambassadors, and start a podcast! I love being part of a diverse team that has one common goal: to instill confidence in girls and share with them the fun of STEM.

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Tell us what you are currently working on!

I have spent the last semester studying at the INSA (Institut National des Sciences Appliquée Lyon, France, through the UNITECH International program, which aims to "develop young technology leaders for a sustainable future." This has been a fantastic and insightful experience so far; I have learned a lot about responsible and sustainable engineering. I have also enjoyed discovering a new city and spending weekends hiking and skiing in the Alps! For me, the best part of the programme has been meeting like-minded, driven students from across Europe who also want to use engineering for good!

UNITECH International cohort

Finally, if I’ve learned anything in the last few years, it’s that it's okay to have many interests, and no, you don’t have to be an expert in all of them. If people ask you what you want to be when you grow up, you can have multiple answers!

Views on the walkers haute route from Chamonix to Zermatt which I completed this Summer

If you have any questions regarding bioengineering, studying abroad, or hiking in the Alps, I am always happy to help!

Spooky Science #7 - Ghost Rockets

Ghost Rockets – Day #7

It is here, it is here!

Halloween is finally here, and I know you are probably busy getting ready for the trick or treating tonight…It is our last day of Halloween Week Spooky Science. And we are finishing it with a bang!

Didn’t we have so much fun this week? You can always come back on the blog page and do the experiments again and try different takes on them. It is all up to you and your imagination.

But no more chatting, let’s jump in…

For today's experiment, you will have to go outside. You need space to see your rockets flying. Wait, did I tell you what we are doing? WE ARE MAKING GHOST ROCKETS THAT ACTUALLY FLY!

Okay, I think I got too excited about this. You will too…

Ready? Scared? Go!

Materials:

-        Film canisters with lids

-        Corn starch

-        Warm Water

-        Markers

-        Alka seltzer

-        And a stirring stick

How to?

Start by drawing a ghost face into the film canister. If you feel artsy, you can draw different scary faces on it. Once the drawing has dried, add 1-3 spoons of corn starch to each film canister and fill the film canister with just a little bit of water, something like 1/3 of the canister, and stir it until the starch is dissolved.

Now you go outside.

You will want to set one ghost rocket at a time. Begin by taking a piece of Alka Seltzer and break into smaller pieces. Then, quickly drop the pieces into the canister, put the lid on, flip the rocket over, set it down, step back, and watch the magic happen.

Did the rocket scare you? Cause it certainly scared me!

The science behind it is simple. When the Alka Seltzer is added to the solution with corn starch and water, the solution starts to fizz. And just like our other experiments with the inflating ghost of fizzing eyeballs, this will release carbon dioxide gas, creating a lot of pressure inside the canister. This pressure will keep building up and will push the lid down and the canister up with force. Thrusting it up with speed. That's how rockets are lifted in real life, but the exploding ingredient there is actual rocket fuel (not corn starch and Alka Seltzer hahaha).

It was fun this week. We had explosions, inflating balloons, articulated hands and fizzing eyeballs…A little bit of everything! We learned new stuff while doing science; having fun, and celebrated Halloween!

I hope we get to do this again soon!

And I hope you get a lot of candy today! You deserve them after this fantastic week we had!

‘May this Halloween get more treats; without any spooky tricks!

Lots of pumpkin wishes and the biggest candy corn kisses from me your Spooky Scientist…

Jess

Spooky Science #6 - Screaming Ghosts

Screaming Ghosts – Day #6

Hello my witches and goblins; ghosts and Draculas!

It is me Jess again with one more day of Halloween Week Spooky Science.

The spooky science today is going to be a loud (and funny) one!

We are about to make some weird and spooky ghost sounds so you can scare your mom while she is busy on her computer or make your dad think he left the window open again!

You will only need three simple materials to make your ghosts scream so loud that your neighbors will not trick or treat your house because they will think it is really haunted!

So let’s get spooky!

Ready? Scared? Go!

Materials:

-        Balloons

-        Hex nuts (get them in different sizes)

-        Marker

I don’t think it can get any easier than that.

How to?

First, you will draw the scariest ghost face on your balloon. If you feel a little artsy, you can try a Frankenstein or a Jack-o’-Lantern on an orange balloon.

It’s so easy!

Now, you will wiggle the hex nut through the opening of your balloon, so it is loose inside the balloon. Blow the balloon up to around 15 to 20 centimeters. Now start swirling your balloon to hear the ghost scream!

Scary but funny at the same time.

Let’s talk STEM now. As you already know, we use scientific processes to test our hypotheses and predict results. In this case, look at your hex nuts and listen to the sound your ghost is making. Do you have different sizes of hex nuts? If you do, try answering some of the questions below.

How do you think the sound is being made?

How do you think the different sizes of hex nuts will affect the sound produced?

Do you think the size the balloon is inflated will change the sound?

It is not hocus pocus. It is science! And the science behind this one is pretty easy.

The sound is being made from the sides of the hex nuts hitting and vibrating against the balloon.

The shape your balloon has makes the material inside move around in a circular path. Because of the balloons smooth surface, there is little to no friction. If there was any friction, the hex nut would eventually stop.

In physics, this is called centripetal force. This is the force that makes an object move in a circular path in the direction of the center. If you stop swirling your ghost, the hex nut will stop at the center.

The six sides of a hex nut are flat, and because of that, the hex nut will bounce around and vibrate, creating the screaming sound you hear. When you change the hex nut, you also change the sound.

Science is fantastic, and I love talking about forces.

May the force be with you! You know who said it right?

Make different shapes! Create witches and monsters and make them scream as loud as you can.

And we see each other tomorrow, with our last day of Halloween Week Spooky Science, and I can say we are going out with a BANG!

Behold, goblins, and ghosts. HALLOWEEN IS HERE!

Pumpkin wishes and candy corn kisses to you all!

See you tomorrow!

Jess