This Wednesday, 8 May, we had the opportunity to attend the third annual Roots & Shoots ceremony at the European Parliament and meet Jane Goodall who presented the groups with their certificates and gave a special speech to all the children who are now part of a worldwide Roots and Shoots community.
Girls in ICT Day 25th April 2013.
The day has come! Last Thursday, 25th April, the European Parliament hosted one of the events of the International Girls in ICT Day, an initiative by ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Member States that aims to inspire girls and women into pursuing careers in the area of ICT. As the core of g4g’s mission is to encourage girls into science, engineering and also technology, we could not miss it.
Wetenschaps Expo-Sciences
The g4g Team had a very intense weekend, as we participated, last Friday and Saturday (26th and 27th April), in the Belgian Expo-Sciences Fair 2013, at Tour and Taxis. It was a two-day event organized by the Jeunesses Scientifiques de Belgique and the Jeugd, Cultuur en Wetenschap, with over 2,000 Belgian children and teenagers presenting their Science experiments. The best projects were selected by a jury composed by scientists and researchers and will represent Belgium in similar events around the world. There were also bright girls and boys from other countries that were invited to show their winning experiments.
We demonstrated some fun science experiments throughout the two days – our trademark daisy colouring experiment and our almost trademark “Magic Lava Lamp”, but also two new ones: “Under the Sea” (to show how ice with food colouring melts differently in fresh water and in salt water) and “The Floating Water Mystery” (that explained water suspension and how air pressure and surface tension can keep water from falling from a glass).
We had a lot of help from our volunteers Cristina, Silke, Rebecca, Soundharya and Hasnae, and children had fun learning the rational magic of Science.
By the delighted reaction of children during our experiments, we hope they realize that Science is fun and that it opens a future that is full of possibilities for them!
Greenlight girls constructed the largest daisy in the world
Where did we find the largest daisy in the world? At the European School in Mol, Belgium at our greenlight for girls event on 24 November. More than 200 girls constructed a very large daisy – not only because this flower is the logo of g4g, but also because a daisy reminds us that there is science and math in everything around us. This video, created by our special JRC European Commission team, shares the special story of the day and the end result of our daisy chain of greenlight girls.
Our first greenlight for girls day in the Flanders area of Belgium was a huge success. 200+ girls, 100 volunteers and loads of fun science experiments. The girls attended workshops ranging from the science of slime, learning how real astronauts live in space and eating real astronaut ice cream too, learning the story behind cancer and the importance of our kidneys - as well as one of the favourites, Chemical Gardening!
From a giant Xperilab bus with physics and chemistry experiments on-the-go to a real fireman truck with all the gear (that we all wore and tried out!), the day was clearly marked by many activities and lots of fun!
Some girls came from far away – some had to leave their home at 6am on a Saturday in order to join us! They all arrived and left with smiles on their face, experienced the fun in science, made new friends and had the chance to dream about their future.
These girls’ voices were heard at the end of the day. Not only did they close the programme by sharing with one another what they’ve learned in their sessions, they also shared a very special message to give to greenlight girls around the world. 200 girls yelled (VERY loudly), “ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!” – their voices reverberating off the cafeteria walls. We know that our greenlight girls in Africa, US, Brazil, India and the rest of Europe heard them loud and clear. The message is out – these girls know that their future is full of possibilities.
We would like to thank all our partners EC-JRM-IRMM, SCK-CEN, Janssen Pharmaceutical, VITO for their support and the European School Mol (ESMOL) and its Parents Association for hosting us in their wonderful school! We send our special thanks to the best project managers we could have had – Ms. Sonia Mohan and Mr. Jeroen Masson – who saw to every aspect of the event and made this a truly special day for everyone.
See you next year Mol!
