By Denise Romanelli

Middle School Girls were empowered at Phoenixville Middle School on Saturday, March 23^rd.  Over 800 middle school girls from surrounding counties attended the Girls Exploring Tomorrow’s Technology (GETT) Expo coordinated by the Chester County Economic Development Council.

More than sixty businesses set up exhibits with hands-on activities highlighting excitement and curiosity in the fields of Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Girls got to program robotics, explore cybersecurity, experience a cockpit display simulator, learn medical techniques practicing suturing on chicken parts, discover the science of plants and animals and so much more.  The energy in the room was exhilarating.

The day started with a dramatic entrance of a helicopter landing on the school’s field flown by Kim Barwick, a female pilot, courtesy of Sikorsky, a Lockeed Martin Company.

The girls stared in amazement feeling the thunder of the copter as it ascended towards the ground and were star-struck as they watched a woman step out of the helicopter in command of such an amazing piece of machinery.   As Barwick walked towards the audience the girls knew in that moment, there is nothing stopping them from achieving their goals and this day was about to open doors and turn their dreams into reality.

What a way to start the day by witnessing the first of many female role models in the field of STEM.  The emcee and opening keynote speaker was Brittney Shipp, a meteorologist for NBC 10’s First Alert Weather Team.

Brittney shared her personal and professional career and wrote a children’s book detailing her journey.   She said only 11% of children’s books have children of color and this was her inspiration to create a book from her perspective as a child.

As Brittney looked out at the faces of those 800 girls, she said, “Use this day to explore opportunities that inspire you, and know that you can do anything you want, no matter what.”

MaryBeth DiVincenzo, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the Chester County Economic Development Council talked about the importance of a day like this for young girls because only 24% of people in today’s tech careers are women.

This is the seventeenth year for GETT and each year more girls attend and are inspired by the array of STEM careers assembled in one place.

After opening remarks, the girls filed into three separate auditoriums to begin their exploration of projects and activities to stimulate their creative minds.  Like entering the Magic Kingdom, it was hard to choose where to go first.  Anticipation and knowledge waited at every table.

Many thanks have to go out to 60+ businesses in the community who provided materials and educators who took time to demonstrate their specialties and encouraged students to pursue careers in their industry.

A group of fifth grade students attended from Mt. Penn Elementary School in Reading who came with their STEM teacher Julie Bentley.  When asked what they liked most about this day, Olivia Hewitt said “It’s because it’s just for us girls.”

Yes, the design of GETT is to allow girls to feel uninhibited and network with other girls who share the same passion for learning.  They bubbled over the different exhibits and described the activities and how much they learned.

The girls agreed their favorite exhibit was the Innovation Bus, so I had to go see it.  I learned that you don’t just see it, you experience it.

It was a traveling wonderland of electronic puzzles, games, and robotics that stirred the enthusiasm of science.  Brittney Schwab is the teacher who travels on the bus to schools around the Downingtown area and guides students in learning activities and computer programming.  She said the lessons learned on this bus simulate the learning paradigms students are required to adopt based on the rapidly changing technology in our world.

The purpose of today’s state-of-the art activities is to ignite a spark for learning.  Through this networking of girl power, the hope is to drive them to pursue a STEM career and push the number of female STEM professionals of 24% right through the glass ceiling.