SMART Girls Program at Penn College Offers Career Exploration

Pennsylvania College of Technology will host its eighth annual residential SMART Girls (Science and Math Applications in Real World Technologies for Girls) program July 13-17.

Registration is open for up to 40 girls entering ninth and 10th grades. The program features workshops designed to expose the girls to career options in technologies that are currently dominated by men, and it encourages strong foundations in math and science during high school.

Expanded to five days for 2008, the event includes field trips to Bloomsburg University, where girls will participate in team-building activities, including a 50-foot climbing wall; to the Williamsport Municipal Water Authority and Lycoming County Landfill; and to Tioga Hammond Dam, where girls will take a tour, learn about the reintroduction of osprey and build fish structures.

Hands-on workshops at Penn College are an integral component of SMART Girls. "Mystery at 123 Maple" tops the list of popular workshops again this year. It allows the girls to use fingerprints, "bloods," fibers and powders to work through a mystery and identify the suspect.

Other workshops help participants to learn what paramedics and X-ray technicians do and why; how a computer works from the inside; how to make intricate pieces using computer sparks; how to identify trees; how to determine fitness levels; how to mix music; how to use adaptive technology to perform daily tasks with a disability; how heating systems work; and how to plan, estimate and manage a construction project.

More workshops use mathematics, science and technology to analyze how the energy the body needs for living relates to the energy used to cook food; to investigate real bodies compared to the Barbie doll; and to calculate energy and horsepower in various fuels.

Enrollment is limited to the first 40 applicants. Each student is charged a $90 materials fee. Participants are housed in Penn College residence halls, and all meals are provided.

Penn College developed SMART Girls to counter an alarming academic and social trend: Girls tend to shy away from math and sciences as they enter adolescence and their important high school years.

SMART Girls is funded in part by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, under the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Bureau of Career and Technical Education, and in part by Penn College.

Scholarship money is available for income-eligible participants to cover the materials fee. For more information, e-mail or call (570) 327-4502.

Register online and view a full slate of activities.

To learn more about Penn College, visit online , e-mail or call toll-free (800) 367-9222.