By Khalida Sarwari
The landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars was arguably one of the most exciting events for the world to witness this summer. But for 13-year-old Keyana Brito it was probably the icing on the cake after getting a chance to see Mars with her own eyes from a telescope at Stanford University.
Keyana, an eighth grader at Rolling Hills Middle School, had an opportunity to view not only Mars, but Saturn, too, as part of the all-girls Tech Trek science and math camp held the week of July 15-21 on the Stanford campus. She was one of six local girls recommended by their math or science teachers to participate in the program.
Throughout the week, the girls lived in a dorm on campus, ate in the student cafeteria, attended classes in the morning and had excursions and other special activities in the afternoon and evening, according to Nancy Hobbs, co-chairwoman of the Los Gatos-Saratoga branch of the American Association of University Women, the organization that selected the participants for the camp.
The other local girls who participated in the camp were Anahita Yamouti from Fisher Middle School, Pragna Upputuri from Joaquin Miller Middle School, Sophia Grant-Counard from C.T. English Middle School, Isabelle Tseng from Redwood Middle School and Laurel Bianchi from Rolling Hills.
According to Hobbs, the girls chose a topic, such as math, marine biology, robotics or food chemistry for their morning class and then spent afternoons going on excursions on campus. Her favorite trip, Keyana said, was a trip to Inventory Lab.
“We went to a lab where they made video games and new technologies and stuff,” said Keyana. “They had one where you put a mask on, and when you look around you’re like in a new world and you can fly by putting your hands in the air.”
Keyana said her favorite class was nutrition, but she also enjoyed a course on managing money in college.
Classes were comprised of about 20 girls and were taught by credentialed middle and high school teachers as well as AAUW volunteers.
Aside from the star-gazing activity, the girls spent evenings participating in activities such as a professional women’s night where they had a chance to speak with women in various professions with a science or math background.
Another evening, women from the American Chemical Society had the girls do experiments, such as making ice cream and learning what is happening chemically, according to Hobbs.
Keyana said she learned a lot throughout the week and had fun doing it. The best part, she said, was all the friends she made.
“It was probably one of the best experiences I had over the summer,” she said.
Funding for the Tech Trek camp was provided by the Los Gatos-Saratoga branch of the AAUW, as well as the Los Gatos Rotary, the De Anza Kiwanis and Adobe Systems Inc.
Tech Trek was started in 1998 by Marie Wolbach at Stanford University, who now serves as a state officer for AAUW. Today, the university hosts two sessions every summer. In California, there are Tech Trek camps at four University of California campuses, including San Diego, Santa Barbara, Irvine and Davis, as well as at Stanford, Whittier College, Sonoma State University and California State University, Fresno. AAUW plans to develop Tech Trek in other parts of the country.
