Girls In Research

Several times I have written about a program that I am involved in that is sponsored by the University of Kentucky called Girls in Research. This program was started to give girls a chance to experience scientific classes and careers. There are about 30 girls from all over eastern Kentucky that were chosen for this program. During the past three summers I have lived on campus and stayed a week in a dorm at UK. I have participated in scientific activities and classes. For the past three school years, I attended five Saturday sessions at various places throughout the year. I started this program when I was in 6th grade. This is a three year program, and this is my last year.

Three weeks ago I went to Eastern Kentucky University for one of my Saturday sessions. It was about computer graphics. I made my own song, movie, and controlled a robot on the computer. It was one of the most unique sessions I’ve been to.

The next week I was at Pikeville College. We spent the whole sessions working on a hovercraft, complete with motors and all. It took forever, but it was fun, and it really worked.

My last Saturday session was at the Challenger Center in Hazard. I’ve been there several times with my classes at school, but I didn’t mind going back. For those of you that have never been, this center is set up to give the students a chance to participate in a space mission. There is one room that is set up like Mission Control and another one that is set up like a space ship. Most of the times the students get to do activities just like they would if they were on an actual mission. This time we didn’t actually complete a mission; we went to different stations and did different activities at each station that pertained to space travel.

While being a part of this program, I’ve had a lot of good opportunities and have participated in a lot of fun activities. I’m going to miss the sessions and the summer camp, but most of all I’m going to miss the friends I have made. It will definitely be hard saying goodbye next week when we have our GIR graduation at UK.