A year of thank you’s to amazing people.

From the g4g Board of Directors...

How can we fit a year of thank you’s in one newsletter?  Well, we can’t.  But, we can fit in a few special notes of appreciation.  We are often asked – how do we continue to have events, grow as an organisation and reach more and more people each year?  The answer is that we have some very, very special people in the greenlight for girls’ network.  Here are just a few!

We launched g4g this year in Greece due to an amazing woman, Milena Amvrazi-Diamantopoulou.  We remember the first phone call.  Milena asked, “how can we start greenlight for girls in Greece?”  Our reply, “Milena, we just did.”  It starts with one conversation and we wait for the request to come to us from an amazing person.  This is how we grow and reach new children every year.  Milena is a perfect example – her passion to bring g4g to her area, her network, all her hard work to make our first event come to life – this is the formula of success of our g4g activities.  Of course, one special person is only a beginning – our first event in Greece happened because of another very special person to g4g, Judith Whitehead.  Judith is the Head of the Campion School – her love of science and her amazing team at the school helped to make all this happen.  We thank you Milena & Judity for helping to bring science inspiration to a group of very lucky students in Greece!

The word inspiration brings another great person to mind.  Kelly Torres Dozinel is the mastermind behind all our Brazil activities.  If you wanted to know – who is it in the crazy get-up encouraging the local community to come to explore a traveling museum?  Who is it in front of a telescope finding Saturn’s ring to bring a night exploring the stars?  Who created a massive amount of interest from school teachers and administrators to get a place for their students at our g4g events?  Who led an incredible group of volunteer scientists and engineers for our event this year?  The answer to all is Kelly. 

You may know already that we have a number of interns throughout the year (and we already have more joining us for 2014!).  Do you know where all the best, craziest, most wonderful ideas come from?  Yes, our interns!  Special thank you to Mariana, Leonie, Cristina, Silvia, Sinkey and Jeff for your help throughout the year.

Hasnae Senhaji has been present at every event and willing to put in the hours and ideas into g4g from the Summer Science Social to the g4g day in Brussels and the Winter Science Social. Next year Nevena and Hasnae will be bringing you more fundraising activities and fun events!  Thank you Hasnae for your enthusiasm and creativity!!

 In the US, we would like to thank....

We would like to recognize three people who have been instrumental in helping to bring about greenlight for girls events in the United States.

Dr. Stephen Hegedus: As director of the Kaput Center for Research and Innovation in STEM Education at the University of Massachusetts- Dartmouth, Stephen has ensured there is a strong partnership between greenlight for girls and UMass Dartmouth. From the first meeting in December 2009 to the three greenlight for girls Days SouthCoast, Stephen and his staff have worked tirelessly to make each event a success. From using his magic to enable our events to be held at the UMDcampus to actively recruiting world-class faculty to participate in the events. Stephen’s help and dedication to STEM education has enabled greenlight for girls to reach girls across the SouthCoast of Massachusetts.

 Greenlight for Girls would like to congratulate Stephen on his recent appointment of Dean of Education at Southern Connecticut State University. This is a wonderful opportunity for Stephen and while we will miss him we wish him the best.

Candida Desjardins: Educational Outreach Coordinator at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, Rhode Island, has been bringing her enthusiasm for everything STEM to our greenlight for girls SouthCoast events since the first event in June 2010. Desjardins holds a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and a master of arts degree in technical communications and was the keynote speaker at the first greenlight for girls Day SouthCoast. Candi has a passion for all things STEM and has consistently volunteered her time and energy for every greenlight for girls Day SouthCoast. The hands-on activities she and her staff provide for the events are always the most popular with the girls and volunteers, alike! Thanks for all of your support, Candi. We hope we can continue working together to bring STEM to the young women of Southeastern Massachusetts.

Bridget Schiefer: As leader of the greenlight for girls Detroit Chapter, Bridget used her tenacity and determination to bring greenlight for girls to Detroit. Under her guidance, she established the first greenlight for girls chapter in the United States. Working with a group of dedicated volunteers, the Detroit chapter serves girls who are interested in the STEM fields. The group meets once a month and they continue to grow each month. Thanks for being persistent, Bridget—we are lucky to have you!

In Africa, we would like to thank..

Ana Lumu – Our chemist and the best of the best!  I would like to thank Ana for her support during all these years of g4g in Congo.  Thought Ana is always busy with her work, she has always said yes to all our activities.  She was the first one to introduce us to the Chemist groups to let us meet all the chemist women group and work with them in almost all our science labs.  Ana loves kids and she knows better than me how to deal with them and how to talk to them.  She is able to explain science to kids by using very simple words and make them laugh.  She is the favourite model of all our girls here!

Annick Wyart – The Lycée Prince de Liège Director and mathematician teacher – She cares for everything when it comes to set up activities in LPL.  She has open her arms to g4g and welcomed us since the beginning.  She is the one to push the Belgian professors to take part in our g4g actions, she invites kids to participate and also cares for drink and food.   Thought she is also always busy, she has always find time to participate to our activities and to be there for each event organized in LPL.  Thank you a lot.

Among these many role models of what makes greenlight for girls a success, we have many, many more examples – people we meet every day.  Thank you to Captain Carol Hottenrott from the US Navy, to Henk van Engelen from the ASML Foundation, to the Cisco & P&G teams for their endless enthusiasm, ISB for supporting us and entrusting your school to us,  Team L&A for racing through India in a Rickshaw to raise money for our scholarship girls.  You have all inspired us during 2013.  We can’t wait to meet those who will inspire us in 2014.