Conference promotes brains and beauty

Almost 200 sixth, seventh and eighth-grade girls gathered at UCF on Saturday morning to learn about careers in engineering, math and science.

The College of Engineering and Computer Science hosted the Expanding Your Horizons conference, which gave students and their parents the opportunity to ask questions, listen to guest speakers and get hands-on engineering experience.

Diane Johnson, a seventh-grade physical science teacher at Corner Lake Middle School and co-organizer of the event, said she hopes the girls learned that they can be both beautiful and brainy.

"I thought it was so valuable for young ladies to realize that it is OK to be a girl and feel attractive, and be smart too," Johnson said. "Math and science are cool, and engineering is a field that has possibilities for them."

UCF engineering graduates Megan Clementi, Miss Florida USA 2010 and Janet McCulloh, Mrs. Florida America 2009 kicked off the day's events by talking to the girls about how they became involved in engineering and what their experiences in the field  — and in pageants — have been like.

Clementi spoke about the Future Female Scientist Award, an engineering scholarship she set up to help aspiring female engineers realize that being an engineer is "so cool."

"The stereotype of the nerdy, dorky, glasses, pocket protector, couldn't-be-Homecoming queen is not true," Clementi said. "The women in this room right now are intelligent, beautiful and capable of being anything you wish to be. If you have a passion for math and science, follow your passion."

Students also attended workshops led by UCF engineering students and professionals from local engineering organizations, where they got hands-on experience in different engineering disciplines.

The girls practiced civil engineering during a center of gravity workshop that challenged them to build the tallest, most stable tower of straws. They were each given 50 straws and the strength of their towers was tested by placing a golf ball on top for two minutes.

An industrial engineering workshop introduced students to the engineering design process.

The girls learned about efficiency as they worked in teams to build paper dice by following a specific set of instructions.

More than 80 parents attended workshops encouraging them to support their daughters in engineering, math and science careers and offered advice on how to prepare them for the future.

"Parents are the cheerleaders of their children," Johnson said. "They need to know so they can help encourage their children."

Diana Wehrell-Grabowski, a science education consultant, led a hands-on workshop that had parents comparing and analyzing shapes and structures in nature, and then applying those analyses to engineering principles.

Parents heard presentations by Clementi, McCulloh and Joan Walker of Orange County Public Schools. They also got a tour of the CREOL lab and learned about educational opportunities for their daughters at a resource fair.

Joyce Manrig's daughter, Noel, a seventh-grader at Chain of Lakes Middle School, was excited to be included in the event.

Manrig said she was thrilled to attend and support her daughter as she defied traditional gender roles.

"Girls don't have to do home [economics] and language arts," she said. "Women need to have a more take-charge role in the world."