The two, week-long residential Tech Trek camps hosted by AAUW Florida for girls who will enter the eighth grade in the fall will be back on campus this summer.
We expect 48 girls to attend each camp — the one at Stetson University in Deland, from June 11-17, and the other at Florida Atlantic University, June 17-23.
The camps were postponed in 2020 due to the coronavirus, and held virtually in 2021, and again in 2022.
Our branch typically sponsors five or six girls from schools in Northern Palm Beach County to attend camp. The girls are nominated by their science or math teachers, interviewed by branch committee members, and, finally, selected by a Florida AAUW committee.
The camps are uniquely designed to engage girls’ curiosity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through activities that build their skills and develop an interest in pursuing STEM careers. A longtime leader on issues related to women and girls in STEM, AAUW is striving through these camps to expand the number of middle-school girls interested in STEM disciplines so they will continue to take classes in these fields in middle school and beyond.
The long-term goal is to increase the number of women employed in these disciplines where they are currently underrepresented.
More information is available at https://techtrek-fl.aauw.net.
Tech Trek Camp Funding
It takes approximately $1,100 per girl to hold in-person camps each year, and about $550 per girl for virtual camps. Branches should solicit financial support from local corporations so the burden of financing the camp does not fall entirely on AAUW Florida members. The 2019 and future camps are a project of the AAUW Florida Supporting Foundation, Inc. Income tax-deductible contributions can be made by writing a check payable to AAUW Florida Supporting Foundation, noting it is for Tech Trek in the memo line. Mail it to Tech Trek Florida Treasurer, PO Box 2938, Jupiter, FL 33468.
The 2018 Florida camp received generous contributions from Praxair Inc., Symantec, AT&T, AAUW Florida, Susan Berlin, DDS, the Merrill G. and Emita E. Hastings Foundation, the Community Foundation of Sarasota’s AAUW Sarasota Branch Norma Heeps Fund, and the Charitable Foundation of AAUW Northern Palm Beach County,