By Alexis Aguirre
Twenty-two fourth and fifth grade girls from Fuentes Elementary will be recognized next week for their efforts in a program that provides science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education to girls in low income environments.
The group will be recognized during the Hays CISD Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 27 for representing Fuentes at the annual Girlstart gala in September.
Girlstart is a program that provides an informal science, technology, engineering and math education to girls who are considered to live in low-income environments or are at risk of academic failure determined by the Texas Education Agency.
Founded in Austin in 1997, Girlstart is nationally recognized and has served over 40,000 girls.
Fuentes Elementary is one of the schools being served by Girlstart.
The partnership between Girlstart and Fuentes Elementary started over three years ago. At that time, Fuentes Principal Regina Butcher heard that the organization was asking a couple of schools to be pilots for the program. Butcher made sure her school was one of them.
“I just wanted a quality program that would engage the girls in STEM,” Butcher said. “Girlstart was already established and they presented an organized and well-planned program. They just needed a place to have it and a dedicated staff member to be there every step of the way.”
Every Thursday, college students from universities in the surrounding area come to Fuentes Elementary with a lesson plan that includes a lecture and project that connect to a specific job.
Pat Niemie, a guidance counselor and liaison between the school and Girlstart, said she has been impressed with the program.
Fourth graders Amiyah Landry and Tegan Sanford both participated in the summer and after school program.
“I remember my sister came home with like a box of experiments, and I was like, ‘I want to do that,’ because I was in second or third grade and she said you have to wait, but I didn’t want to wait,” Sanford said.
Computer games and catapults are projects the girls have done in the past. Girls in the program are given a small demonstration on what that project entails. They are then provided materials and are told to create their project based on however they think it would work.
“We had to make a Frozen game with the big snowman and an evil sun,” Landry said. “We made the background and we got to make it however we wanted as long as they were the characters.”
Since the program has started, Niemie has seen a tremendous improvement when it comes to girls being engaged in the classroom when it comes to math and science.
