SAGE-S Summer Camp

SAGE-S (Science Accelerating Girls' Engagement in STEM) is a one week long summer camp for public high school students hosted by the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. This program aimed to foster innovation, grow the STEM community, and engage intelligent, creative, and passionate young women in the everyday life of scientists and engineers. After making the difficult decision to transition this camp into an online format, SLAC and Berkeley Lab worked together to create a completely new virtual camp. We were at first challenged to adapt all learning materials into a brand new format, but were also granted an opportunity to reach out to more students than previously imagined. Ultimately, we welcomed over 90 young girls for a week-long program of STEM and professional development.

Each day of the week, students began their morning with career talks, where speakers shared their journeys in STEM from high school up until their current positions. (Top right) Speakers emphasized that there are a lot of windy roads leading to their current roles, and reassured students that there is no single right way to achieve their professional goals. Within smaller groups, students were also able to speak with professionals individually as part of job shadow sessions, in which volunteers shared more about their day to day work and answered questions on their specific fields. The program also included hands-on projects that students could work with at home. Project materials were shipped to approximately 120 homes, including both students and volunteers. (Bottom right) Students started the week with building a small breadboard to light a lightbulb, and followed with a discussion on sustainable energy. Other projects included laser study and scratch coding. For some students, this was their first experience working with code! Finally, the day concluded with professional development seminars. (Middle left) Topics included growth mindset, effective communication, building professional relationships, and leadership where students engaged in discussions and activities to practice new skills.

At the end of the week, the program concluded with presentations about the different components of the camp to the cohort, volunteers, family, and friends. Many students highlighted that being able to talk to scientists and researchers in small groups allowed them to gain a lot of insight into fields they never knew existed! Thanks to the numerous volunteers from both SLAC and Berkeley Lab for helping run the program, some are pictured below.

Director’s Apprenticeship Program

This past month, our first Director's Apprenticeship Program cohort completed their summer internship program. The Berkeley Lab Director’s Apprenticeship Program (BLDAP) seeks to overcome systemic barriers to STEM by providing educational and professional opportunities to underrepresented/low income students in the Bay Area. Over the four week program, 17 high school students developed fundamental data science skills through python classes and projects, developed confidence in scientific research, and connected with researchers from Berkeley Lab. The summer program culminated with the students presenting original projects to their peers, mentors, family, and friends. Highlighted above are some examples of project presentations. (Top right) Some students reviewed what they learned in Python and practiced their skills on new data sets. (Bottom right) Other students used their Arduino sensors to measure the air quality in their home environment. (Bottom left and bottom middle) Students also presented their EcoFab experiment growth results, reporting how plant growth varied in different media. They will soon be receiving certificates of completion from Representative Barbara Lee, Senator Kamala Harris, and Senator Dianne Feinstein commending their achievements in and commitments to STEM. Following this program, everyone is excited to continue into STEM fields ranging from environmental science to astronomy.

We had an incredible number of Berkeley Lab staff volunteers support various components of the program. Many helped with python learning by supporting lesson planning, hosting office hours, and reviewing notebooks. Others developed independent projects. We sent packages with Ecological Fabrications used to study plant root growth as well as Arduino sensors used to study air quality. Students were instructed on how to set up these projects and then developed original research questions to study. A number of researchers also joined us for career talks and data science seminars to introduce the students to the wide variety of professions in STEM and explain how data science is applied to real world applications respectively. For many of the students, meeting the diverse set of volunteers throughout the program has been a highlight of their summer. The program would not have been such a success without the leadership of program coordinator Ajayi Anwansedo and the support of all these volunteers.