A CELEBRATION OF EXCELLENCE

HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS 2023

Students, family, and friends along with branch members attended our Celebration of Excellence honoring thirteen local middle school, high school, and Saint Mary’s college students.

Seven 7^th grade middle school girls received scholarships to Tech Trek, a weeklong STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) immersion program held this coming July at Sonoma State University.  Tech Trek is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year!  The camp is designed to encourage rising 8^th grade girls to persist with their excitement about STEM through high school, college, and into their careers. The program features numerous hands-on activities as well as a chance for the girls to make friends with other girls interested in STEM and to meet professional women in STEM fields.

The selection criteria for the high school and college scholarships are academic excellence, community service and leadership.  In addition to outstanding grades  these students demonstrated a desire to help others by volunteering in their schools, local volunteer agencies and global programs.

TECH TREK GIRLS 2023 WITH KEYNOTE SPEAKER MOLLY MUDGETT

The event which featured keynote speaker Molly Mudgett, a prototyping engineer at Apple. Molly attended Tech Trek in 2013 and continues to volunteer in the program. She graduated from Acalanes High School and received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering at Northwestern.  While sharing the experiences that led to her job at Apple, she highlighted the importance of young women working equitably and comfortably in the STEM field.

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL STEM CONFERENCE

The seventh annual AAUW-OML STEM Conference was held March 25th, 2023, at Saint Mary’s College, where high school STEM Ambassadors welcomed 170 middle school girls (6th through 8th grade) from Lamorinda, Richmond, Walnut Creek, Castro Valley, and other East Bay communities.
Modeled after AAUW-California’s legendary Tech Trek Science & Math Camp (founded in 1998), AAUW-OML’s local STEM event is designed to give all young girls interested in learning about STEM the opportunity to participate in three out of fourteen interactive “hands-on” science workshops. They meet professional women in STEM careers, hear dynamic speakers, and network with like-minded students who love learning about science, technology, engineering, and math. Part of the experience is spending a day and attending workshop classes on a beautiful college campus.

After celebrating in April the Lamorinda seventh graders headed to Tech Trek STEM camp at Sonoma State University in July, the Tech Trek committee invited all the girls and their parents to meet again for a casual ice cream social in the Miramonte Gardens clubhouse in early May.
Seven girls from three different middle schools quickly gathered on big leather sofas in the middle of the room where they began to chat and build new friendships as part of our ever growing Tech Trek circle.
The social ended with the girls gathered in front of the fireplace for photos, as Trekkers past and present continue their TT journeys.  Since 1998, AAUW-OML has selected 129 local STEM girls to attend Tech Trek science camps, thanks to the generous, loyal support of branch members.

Fundraise for Scholarships. Here’s how…

Help our scholarship program by asking your family (grandkids), friends and neighbors to save their gently worn sneakers.  These sneakers can help AAUW raise funds for our local high school scholarships and Saint Mary’s College High Potential Program scholarships.

With your help, we can keep sneakers out of landfills, reduce toxic chemicals in our air and soil, and raise money to support our local scholarships.

We have sneaker drop off locations at the Lafayette Veterans Building, the Lafayette Community Center (by Pickleball courts) and Orinda Community Center (by tennis courts)  and Oakwood Health Club.

Let’s make a difference together!  Tell your friends, neighbors and family.