A summer trip that can change lives: For some girls, STEM camp helps chart their future

For many students, high school is a time to make important decisions about college and what will follow. But Alexa Duque, currently a senior at Palm Springs High, got a head start on that five years ago, when she attended a summer camp for middle school girls interested in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.

The camp program, Tech Trek, is only a week long, yet its impact can last a lifetime.

“When applying to colleges, I applied to the environmental science major … Ever since having that (camp) experience and learning that was even a field and being able to learn more in-depth about it, it really stuck with me,” Duque said.

Though she had an interest in science before participating in Tech Trek, Duque said what she could do with STEM used to be a mystery. “The most I knew was, I could be a scientist, but in regard to what they actually do was very vague to me,” she said.

When at camp in 2018, however, Duque got a clear picture as she was introduced to women in science dedicated to nature conservation and advocacy — something she now hopes to do.

“With a major in environmental science, I plan to do more in-field research, in terms of becoming a conservation specialist or analyst … because I think it’s really important to make sure that, as the world around us develops, we keep in mind it’s still a living, breathing planet and we have to maintain the health of it,” Duque said.

She will start studying at UC Berkeley this fall.

Seventh-grade girls in the Coachella Valley have the opportunity to participate in Tech Trek through the local branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Every year, the nonprofit raises funds to allow girls to attend the camp program at a college campus or virtually and learn about different areas of STEM.

Universities that have hosted the program include UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis and UC Irvine. Girls selected to attend camp in person this year will go to UC San Diego and Whittier College in June.

When learning virtually, the girls receive a kit to make motherboards, perform DNA tests and create various STEM-related projects, according to Kathi Farber, president of the local chapter of AAUW.

The organization asks that each girl’s family contribute $50, but covers all other expenses to participate in Tech Trek. By dividing them into in-person and virtual groups, Farber said, AAUW tries to maximize the number of girls they can assist.

Costs to go in person range from $1,050 to $1,500, depending on the campus, while the virtual experience costs $400.

Farber said over 20 girls “from Palm Springs to Thermal” applied to the program this year and the nonprofit had estimated it’d be able to help 14.

But with a grant for $1,500 from the city of Indio and another for $4,000 from the Coachella Valley Firebirds hockey team boosting its fundraising, AAUW is getting 18 girls to STEM camp this summer: 14 in person and four virtually.

“It’s an all-volunteer organization and we have our board. Everybody does whatever they can to work at fundraising, to help send these girls there,” Farber said, recognizing that the program “has a long-term impact on their lives and career opportunities.”

The application process to get into Tech Trek starts with recommendation letters from the girls’ teachers. Typically, teachers select students whom they notice enjoy learning about STEM, excel in some of its branches and have good attendance.

This year, Sasha Gomez, a seventh grader at La Quinta Middle School STEM Academy, was recommended by a teacher and said she learned more about the program from a school counselor. Once she decided to apply, she started with a very personal essay.

"To do the application, I had to write an essay. I wrote (about) ovarian cancer, which is the cancer my grandma died from and it's a cancer that only females get ... I want to learn more about it during the camp," Sasha said.

She added that her grandmother, Estela Ochoa, died at 67 of the cancer and that has been part of her drive to someday work in a STEM field.

While she thinks she'll go into medicine, Sasha said she's open to learning about other STEM work at Tech Trek. "I'm excited to learn about the different stuff because, who knows? What if I find something else that I really enjoy?" she said.

Once the girls submit their work, Farber said AAUW has a Tech Trek committee that reviews and scores the applications. Following an interview process, the committee also has to determine how many girls the organization can afford to send to camp that year.

Sasha is among the 18 selected girls for 2023 and will be at STEM camp for a week at UC San Diego. She's unsure if she'll know any of the other girls there this summer, but said she learned one of her older friends had done the program before, too, and felt even more supported to go.

Duque, the Palm Springs High senior who went to the camp in 2018, believes part of the program's success is the relationship-building that happens during the Tech Trek week.

"It's not something that you experience and then you're done," Duque said. "Other alumni and I have kept in contact and there's the opportunity to go back to the actual camp during summer as a counselor and actually stay in contact with AAUW and the program as a whole."

Both Duque and Sasha expressed surprise at discovering that STEM fields are dominated by men. A report from the U.S. Census Bureau found that even as women continue to enter STEM fields – making up 8% of STEM workers in 1970 and increasing to 27% in 2019 – men were still 73% of STEM workers in 2019.

But Duque and Sasha aren't discouraged by those statistics. Instead, Sasha said: "That's definitely a motivation for me. I want to be part of more women in STEM. Just imagine, in the future, when there's more, people will read about this and they'll be like, 'Oh my goodness. Who would have thought?'"

For Farber, that's all part what the organization strives to accomplish. "Our overall, general mission, for AAUW national as well as our branch in the state of California, is to empower women through gender equity and research and to help further their education," she said.

Eliana Perez covers the eastern Coachella Valley, including the cities of Indio and Coachella. Reach her at eliana.perez@desrtsun.com or on Twitter @ElianaPress.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Summer STEM camp for girls helps expose them to careers in science