Middle-schoolers built bridges and robots at UF on Friday.
More than 50 Kanapaha Middle School students visited UF for the UF Society of Women Engineers’ annual Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day.
During the free event, visiting girls were divided into two groups, and each group worked on three lab activities at the Reitz Union and Weil Hall.
The Reitz Union group created “bristle bots,” making robots from toothbrush heads, magnets and tape.
At Weil Hall, the group built lava lamps and pop rockets and tried 3D printing.
Janet Wisby, a seventh-grade life science teacher at the middle school, said she’s brought her girls to participate for more than nine years.
Wisby said she wants her girls to know they can be engineers.
“We know that engineering is a male-dominated field, so we have this event to expose them to any possible careers that they might be interested in for the future,” she said.
Heather Lucas, a station coordinator for the event, said she wanted to introduce girls to engineering because it allows them to learn about the field.
“I’ve noticed there are hardly any females in my college since I transferred to the university,” the 21-year-old UF mechanical engineering senior said.
Ashley Quigley, one of Wisby’s students, said she’s interested in engineering.
She said her favorite activity was making robots out of toothbrush heads, batteries and tape.
Quigley, who won last year’s Alachua State Science Fair in Lakeland, Florida, said she wants to continue engineering at this year’s fair.
“I’d be really excited to go again,” she said. “Last year I was able to make a bunch of friends.”
Nola Wit, a Kanapaha middle-schooler, said her favorite activity was the civil bridge design, in which she made different types of bridges out of wooden sticks and rubber bands.
“Back in my old school, we used to have chemistry, physics and biology,” she said. “I really like learning about stars and robots.”
