All Girls STEM Society Aerospace Workshop is Flying High

On December 9th at the Mission Valley Public Library the All Girls STEM Society, in partnership with the Art of Problem Solving, hosted its famous Aerospace Workshop, designed to teach girls from fourth to eighth grade about "aerospace and its potential to change the world”.  ​

The workshop opened with a featured talk by Brian Keating, a UCSD professor, giving an account about his work and the field of aerospace from a first-person perspective. Afterwards, he held a Q&A session, during which the girls eagerly asked questions ranging from silly hypotheticals to thoughtful queries about being a professional scientist.  

This was followed by a break, the girls played in the library’s outside space and ate snacks provided by the organization. During this time, a representative from SDG&E presented the organization with a check for $1000, a generous donation to help the organization continue to do its work.

Following a break, the time for projects began. The first was building a shock absorber, much like the ones used to prevent damage to aircrafts during landings. Once the girls were done constructing their shock absorbers, a competition was held to see which one was the sturdiest. Each participant held their breath as their shock absorbers were dropped, waiting to see if their constructions were functional. 

Afterwards, the workshop moved on to the most popular part of the lesson: the rocket launching. The girls built their own paper rockets, designing them with their own personal flair by adding color and art. Folding them up and attaching a weight to the top, the rockets looked stylish and ready to fly. And, using soda bottle launchers set up by AGSS itself, the girls did, placing their rockets on the PVC launching point and jumping on the soda bottles, sending their rockets shooting towards the sky. Everyone gathered around to watch as they soared above the trees, defying expectations and creating a great show. ​

AGSS will be back in 2019 with all new workshops and the return of old favorites. Continue to check the All Girls STEM Society website, Facebook, or Twitter for updates.