AGSS Hosts Origami Workshop for Middle School Girls

By Danica Chen, Del Norte High School

After the success of their last origami workshop, the All Girls STEM Society organized another origami workshop on September 25 at the Carmel Valley Library, this time for girls from sixth to eighth grade. Over 32 girls from 20 different schools showed up to participate. This workshop, as well as the many other workshops hosted by this group, is designed to kindle an interest in STEM in girls.

Many of the girls here are already passionate about STEM, like one of the participants, seventh grader Madeline.
"My grandpa always takes me to STEM things," she explains, "so I'm pretty good at math. At school, I'm at an eighth grade math level instead of seventh."

Others were less confident in their abilities, like Kadyn, who bashfully confessed she was not particularly proficient in the subject.  "I'm not really good at math, but this event still seemed fun," she says.

Like their last origami workshop, this event was taught by Kevin Chen, who instructed the girls on various types and mathematical applications for origami, interspersed with entertaining projects and trivia questions. This time, however, supplemental worksheets were added to the event to reflect the level of the participants. Prizes were handed out for answering the trivia problems and for completing the worksheets correctly. As usual, the workshop contained a ten minute break, during which cookies and bananas were provided as snacks.

Based on the reactions of the participants, this event was a worthy follow-up to its predecessor. The girls cite various reasons for their enjoyment. Grace happily proclaims her love for the prizes, while Lily mentions the snacks were a pleasant surprise to her. But the most insightful perspective comes from Kasie Leung, a long-time participant in All Girls STEM Society events.

"The AGSS made learning math really fun," she declares cheerfully. "It's really taught me to embrace my inner nerd."