On May 23, 2018, 47 SPHS students attended the Femineer Summit at Cal Poly Pomona, the culmination of a semester of creative robotics and wearable technology projects. Created by Cal Poly Pomona in 2013, the Femineer Program seeks to inspire girls to pursue STEM education and careers, aiming to close the gender gap in those fields. It is a three-year program, consisting of creative robotics, wearable technology, and Raspberry Pi robotics. Students work collaboratively on projects, learning skills such as tool usage (including soldering), engineering design, circuitry, and computer programming.
Earlier in the year, 15 students participated in a pilot of the year three Raspberry Pi robotics program. Cal Poly Pomona Professor of Mechanical Engineering Mariappan “Jawa” Jawaharlal came to SPHS for two days to teach the students the curriculum on hardware he generously donated to the school.
SPHS Computer Science teacher, Garrett Shorr, led the wearable technology & Raspberry Pi cohorts, and Math teacher, Diana Shen, led the creative robotics cohort. In 2018-19, PLTW Biomed teacher, Krista Gale, will lead the new cohort of 9th & 10th graders exploring creative robotics. Go, Tiger Femineers!
For more information, contact: South Pasadena Unified School District, Office of the Superintendent, [email protected].