With 5 events in 5 countries, you thought we had a busy September? That was nothing compared to the 11 (!) events we hosted in 9 different countries in October!
In October, we launched our first g4g Days in Canada, Egypt and the UAE, we showed girls the link between sport and science in Ireland, we met with amazing inventors and inspiring race pilots in the UK, we became engineers in France, we invaded the European Parliament in Belgium and we celebrated Halloween in the US… all of that to deliver g4g STEM fun to thousands of girls and boys! During our October g4g Days, we met with over 700 girls and boys… and that’s not it! We also talked at a STEM conference in Spain and hosted STEM workshops at an interactive festival in the USA, where we met with … more than 14,000 kids!
Ready to read all about it? Keep scrolling!
We started the month in Canada, when, on October 3rd, we hosted our first g4g Day @Ottawa with our global partner Nokia! 200 girls joined us, and together, we explored plasma physics with plasma balls (“We only see those in movies, that’s so cool!”), we discovered electrical engineering with snapcircuit and that was so powerful that… we got two flying saucers on the ceiling(!), we explored with maths, physics and yummy food when we calculated the speed of light with chocolate and a microwave (did you know that if you could travel at the speed of light, you’d be able to go around the Earth seven and a half times in a single second... ? Believe us, we are trying! In a nutshell, we had a g4g blast!
Only a day after, we were thrilled to be back to Ireland for our third g4g Day @Dublin with our global partner AIG! Helped by 20 wonderful and dedicated volunteers, and with the amazing support of some players and coach from the Gaelic Athletic Associations (GAA), we hosted a full day of STEM fun at the AIG offices in Dublin! We had invited 80 young curious and excited girls to join us, and together, after getting inspired thanks to Louise Kidd, David Leo, and Declan O’Rourke, from AIG Ireland, we discovered all the science hidden in GAA sports (hello gaelic football and camogie!), we experienced chemistry with bath-bombs and polymer worms, we dived into electrical engineering with bristlebots, we became codebreakers and had fun with statistics using M&M's.
On October 8, we were so happy to be back for the third year in a row at the European Parliament in Brussels, for this 2019 edition of the Generation Code with Public Libraries 2030 . We had invited 20 girls to join us, and together, after a welcoming and inspiring speech from MEPs Sean Kelly and Julie Ward and a tour of the European Parliament, we dived into some fun activities involving VR, robots and coding! We learnt how to code with the European Schoolnet we applied problem solving thinking to robots to help them find their way throughout mazes, we built bristlebots and we went on an adventure, from the outer space to all the way below the sea thanks to Virtual Reality!
On October 11, we felt honored to be asked to give a keynote speech at the beginning of the STEAM-B Learning Conference, at the Aloha Collage in Marbella, Spain. 400 kids from late primary school to high school joined us, and after an energetic plenary, we had fun with statistics and M&M’s when we taught a Mathematics workshop.
On October 14 and 15 we were absolutely thrilled to come to Egypt for our first ever g4g Days @Cairo with our global partner Nokia. 130 girls joined us and together, we dived into bio-chemistry, robotics, electrical engineering and plasma physics. We have heard so many "wow", so many "C'est fou" so many " رائعة حقا " that we can't count them all... ! We were absolutely thrilled to meet all of these amazing girls and had so much fun with them... that we can't wait to be back! Thank you to all the dedicated volunteers who made these couple of days possible, as well as to Radwa Hafez and Heba Marawan for all their amazing work and inspiring words.
On Friday October 18, we were back for our third Design Hackathon in London, with our global partner AIG, along with 50 girls! After a great speech by Romane O’Malley, we started the day by exploring the amazing work of eight female inventors. What an inspiring morning! The girls then worked as groups to come up with innovative solutions helping others. After building their prototypes, they presented their inventions to our judges of the day, Noona Barlow, Melissa Rancourt and Nick Insley. Bravo to all these curious and inventive girls, we were all inspired by the amazing inventions you came up with, from the Petbot to the noise cancelling headphones, to the alarm clock that wakes you up with compliments, we loved them all!
Between November 22nd and 24th, we headed to the Interactive STEM Festival” Youth Mobile” (YoMo) in Los Angeles. What an adventure! Over the course of three days, we welcomed over 14,000 students and educators, and met with almost 1000 professionals and exhibitors. At our booth, kids could grab their “passport to invention”, and explore the amazing work of 8 inventors. From Stephanie Kwolek, the inventor of the bullet-proof fabric Kevlar, to Maria Telkes, the Sun Queen, we took the kids with us on a journey and explored innovations in Solar Energy, Materials, Telecommunications and Artificial Intelligence. We led short activities (10 minutes top!) to show them how these amazing inventions came to life, and how we use them every day. During the YoMo festival, we were also incredibly fortunate to meet with so many other exhibitors, from the L.A area or elsewhere. We were thrilled to join this wonderful Festival and the great news is … it’s only the beginning since we will be at the YoMo Festival in February in Barcelona! Stay tuned!
On October 24th we had a blast together with 30 girls and boys for our first g4g @work in Dardilly, with our global partner Stanley Black and Decker! After customizing their labcoats, the kids received a warm welcome from two SBD professionals: Claudie Delorme and Yves Antier from SBD. We then dived into electronics when we built our own circuits, explored electrical engineering and mechatronics while designing our own scribblebots, and got caught into biology and chemistry by making our own bath bombs. In the afternoon, the kids had the opportunity to explore the SBD activities in France while visiting the SBD warehouse and learning about how alarm systems work during a smoke generator demonstration (it got so foggy in the room that we couldn't see each other!). In a nutshell, we had much fun with science!
On October 29, we headed to the UAE with our global partner Covestro for our first g4g Day @Dubai! We were thrilled to host our first event there, and even more to be joined by these wonderful 100 curious and enthusiastic girls. After being inspired by our guest speakers of the day, Mohamud Kasil Ali, Senior Covestro Representative of the Middle East, Melissa Rancourt, g4g Founder and Chairman, and Marwan Abdulaziz Janahi, Managing Director of Dubai Science Park, the girls got to explore with hands-on workshops showing all the fun in STEM! Together, we dived into polymer chemistry thanks to an incredible fun wormy workshop developed by Covestro, and we explored with robotics, biology, chromatography with some of our signature workshops (hello bristlebots, bath bombs and DNA extraction)!
On October 30, fifty young girls aged 11 to 15 were invited to Silverstone, UK, for our first g4g Day @Silverstone UTC, organized with Stanley Black & Decker and Envision Virgin Racing. After inspiring meetings with women role models, girls took part in hands-on workshops exploring subjects such as chemistry, robotics and welding with chocolate! Finally, everyone also enjoyed an exciting visit to the Envision Virgin Racing Formula E Garage, where girls experienced ‘a day in the life of racing’ and discovered how technicians and engineers work behind the scenes with Stanley Black & Decker tools to maintain the team’s leading position in the Formula E Championship! What an exciting day!
Finally, on October 31, we were thrilled to host our 6th "Trick or Treat for STEM", at Circleville (USA) Elementary School, with 62 fourth grade students, 3 classroom teachers, and support faculty/staff. There was even a special appearance by Obi Wan Kenobi… Can you spot him on our pictures?! The kids (and adults!) enjoyed three STEMtastic and sugar-loaded activities: candy corn catapults, candy elevators, and Starburst rock cycles. Halloween has never been so fun!
Pfew, what a month! We were thrilled to be invited in so many amazing places, to meet so many wonderful partners and volunteers, to have fun with STEM with so many curious and enthusiastic girls… and November promises to be equally fun! In November, we are kicking-off our #STEM4Girls Festival in India with Covestro, we are having 3 g4g Days with Nokia, 1 with Stanley Black & Decker, and … we are hosting our tenth g4g Day @Brussels! Stay tuned!
