Montgomery County program encourages girls' interest in technology

Sixth grader Mollie Fink has a budding interest in technology, but her father is positively wired.

Eric Fink, a network engineer turned business development specialist for Lockheed Martin Corp. in King of Prussia, has an iPhone, a BlackBerry, and a four-computer household, and he craves an iPad. When anything breaks at home, he's the dad who can fix it.

So when he heard about the Girls in Technology Summer Academy in the Colonial School District, he encouraged Mollie to enroll.

It wasn't a hard sell.

"I wanted to find out more about all the things I can do," said Mollie, 11, of Lafayette Hill.

Teachers and administrators in the Montgomery County school district are counting on that curiosity. Colonial's Girls in Technology pilot program is designed to encourage middle-schoolers to consider a field of study - and potential career path - that is still boy-centric.

The two-week summer camp, which concludes on Friday, introduces girls entering fourth through eighth grades to robotics, digital photography, programming, gaming, animation, and Web design.

"We know from academic profiles in math and science that girls are just as capable, so there's a disconnect between capability and involvement," said MaryEllen Gorodetzer, an assistant superintendent with the district.

A 2010 study by the the National Center for Women and Information Technology found that women made up 25 percent of workers in IT-related jobs in 2008, down from a high of 36 percent in 1991. Women earned 18 percent of computer and information science bachelor's degrees in 2008, down from 37 percent in 1985.

The study said women cited obstacles such as salary gap, isolation, lack of role models and mentors, poor supervisory relationships, and competing life responsibilities.

Middle school is often a critical turning point, Colonial administrators say.

In elementary school, there's equal interest in technology among boys and girls, said Maria Bellino, the district's science curriculum supervisor. But in middle school, girls' interest declines. Social concerns, being popular with peers, and a fear of standing out as different can override a serious consideration of studying technology, Gorodetzer said.

By high school, the numbers can be startling.

"If I teach 60 students in a semester, I might have five girls," said Mickey Engel, who teaches Web design and animation at the camp as well as computer programming at the district's Plymouth Whitemarsh High School. "In some classes, I may have one or two, if that."

At the camp, which meets at Plymouth Whitemarsh High, 25 girls ages 9 to 13 spend four hours Monday to Friday with high school tech teachers who could become mentors later on. Two of the teachers in the program are women.

Already, the students have built robots and programmed them to play soccer, snapped digital pictures, edited in Photoshop, and created a logo for the Girls in Technology website that they'll help create.

Student Imani Jenerette of Conshohocken is fascinated with photo editing and robotics. She wants to be a tech trailblazer in her family.

"I thought this would be a chance for me to get better and help my family with it," said Imani, 11. "I want to help my dad and my grandmom."

Last week, as Imani sat at a computer with her fellow campers, art teacher Candance Maggioncalda explained how to create a logo and website buttons. She outlined elements of color theory to help create a site with an eye-catching design.

The campers called the tech divide between girls and boys a product of upbringing, peer pressure, and the influence of boy-oriented video gaming.

"Some people think [an interest in technology] is geeky," Mollie said.

Emily Jolley, 16, a junior at Plymouth Whitemarsh who is helping out as a camp assistant, bemoaned traditional gender roles.

"Boys' lives are structured around technology. I have a little brother, and that's his world," Jolley said. "With girls, it's crafts, cooking, and dolls."

Administrators and teachers hope to continue the program. They plan to survey the campers and track their interest in technology. The district will offer mentorship and step up college counseling efforts in technology, and plans a robotics club at Colonial Middle School, joining one already in operation at the high school.

Eric Fink says that if there is another camp program, younger daughter Sara, 9, will be enrolled.

"A program like this teaches them how to engage in technology, and control it so it doesn't control them," he said. "I see a lot of people who are afraid of technology, and I don't want my girls to be afraid."