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BY BLANCA GAMEZ

In print | March 30, 2006

Last Saturday, Swarthmore hosted roughly 150 seventh and eighth grade students from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware for the national Expand Your Horizons conference. The EYH conference fosters young women’s interest in mathematics, sciences and engineering, and it encourages them to pursue their interests beyond middle school. According to Nicole Belanger ’08, the Swarthmore coordinator of the conference, the students came from 45 different high schools in the immediate tri-state area.

The conference, funded by a grant from Swarthmore, featured a variety of different workshops, all math and science related. Many of the workshops offered were hands-on, such as the “Alchemy: Turning Pennies to ‘Gold’” workshop, in which students tried turning pennies to gold while learning “a little about chemical reactions on the way,” according to a hand-out.

Belanger explained that this workshop was a favorite among students, as was the “Chemistry is Colorful” workshop, in which students mixed and separated different solutions to “experience the brilliant colors of chemistry.”

Other workshops allowed students to use and explore their computer skills. One such workshop, “Understanding Digital Images,” taught students about “image files […] and how they are assembled from digital bits,” while having them enhance and modify their own digital photos.

“The World at Your Fingertips” explored the differences between using the Internet as a research tool as opposed to the library. Workshop leaders then discussed “Internet technology careers.”

Students had the opportunity to specify which workshops they most preferred to attend on their applications.

Belanger praised all of the professors from Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Villanova, Haverford and the additional volunteers who offered to teach at the conference. Patricia Kelly ‘08, a member of Women of Science and the EYH Planning Committee, as well as a coordinator for next year’s conference, also expressed gratitude for the services lent by volunteers. In addition to teaching, volunteers at the conference performed tasks such as helping to set up, clean up or baby-sit.

Workshop leaders were all female and were asked to integrate personal life experiences as women in math and sciences into their lessons.

Deborah Bergstrand, professor in the Mathematics and Statistics department, offered her help on Saturday. One of the workshops Bergstrand taught was “Connecting the Dots,” in which students learned Euler’s Formula. Bergstrand commented that the students were “very receptive” to her lesson. She explained that while “some of the students were quiet, some enjoyed the discussion aspect of the experiments.”

She also said that there was " a lot of interest and support" on the part of the middle school students, teachers and their parents, and that the conference wouldn’t be successful “if not for the parents’ and teachers’ support.”

Having volunteered in last year’s conference as well, Bergstrand expressed her appreciation at the continued involvement of students and staff alike. “The committees work hard to put this together,” she said. “There’s an army of volunteers […] it is a testament to the commitment Swarthmore students have to the importance of educational experiences.”

Lisa Meeden, associate professor in the Computer Science department, was this year’s keynote speaker. According to Belanger, she brought robotic dogs that respond to petting to jumpstart the conference and demonstrate what her work entails.

Kelly explained that planning for the conference began as early as last October. By fall break, members of the planning committee had invited a guest speaker, decided where and how they would be getting food for the students, devised a way to attract volunteers for the day of the conference and notified the surrounding middle schools of the event. Since the middle school students have to apply to attend the conference, the schools needed to be notified of the conference well in advance of the application deadline.

Kelly explained that most of the students came from Pennsylvania, though some others from Delaware and New Jersey. To apply for the conference, students had to write a short essay on their interest in mathematics, sciences and engineering.

Belanger explained that last year, partially due to a lack of funds, the EYH committee had to turn away 50 applicants. This year, however, thanks to a Swarthmore grant, only a few applicants were turned away. Belanger reported that she enjoyed reading the essays for admission. Some students demonstrated their interest and eagerness by adding graphs to their applications, while others wrote their essays on paper decorated with animals.

Kelly admitted originally feeling “apprehension” at accepting 150 students to the conference. Last year, Swarthmore’s first time hosting the EYH conference, only 80 girls from 27 different schools attended. However, Kelly said that things went smoothly. “We got a lot of good feedback from the parents; they were really excited. [The conference] was effective and profitable.”

Belanger has also received her share of positive feedback, commenting that some parents even purchased flowers for EYH committee members and expressed awe that “students under 20” were capable of organizing such an event. “The parents were really into it,” she said. “We’re getting a lot of e-mails thanking us, and a lot of the teachers are thrilled.”

Kelly said that when students arrived at the conference, volunteer Group Leaders played various name games with the students, escorted the students from workshop to workshop and constantly supervised the students during the conference. The students were split into groups of roughly 10 students, each of which was supervised by two Group Leaders.

Teaching Assistants assisted the teachers during the workshops, made sure that the students were safely using workshop materials and helped answer questions.

Belanger explained that every student who attended the conference had to attend the “Gender Workshop,” taught by Swarthmore students. This workshop pushed the students to consider stereotypes that society has relegated men and women to. Students were read a list of different positions and asked to state whether they think of the profession as one that is traditionally male or female. Later, they discussed which of their classes has greater male or female participation, the dynamics of girl and boy classroom behavior and what activities and sports are considered to be traditionally for boys or girls.

The students also read a story called “X: A Fabulous Child’s Story” by Louis Gould. Belanger explained that the story is a about a child named X who has no apparent sex. The child X enjoys activities that other children in the story believe to be strictly for boys or girls. The Gender Workshop leaders guided the students through a discussion of the story and of the character, X, asking the students whether they identified with X or not, and what they thought of X.

Kelly explained that members of the Planning Committee approached the Gender Workshop in a strategic manner. The first step was creating an all-female environment. In an all-female environment, students would be more comfortable honestly expressing their views and ideas on gender issues. The second approach, Kelly explained, was to “give [the students] examples of college students, who are not too much older than them, as examples of successful women in science.”

The EYH conference also offered a workshop to parents of the attending students in which they completed some of the same activities as their children and later discussed what the dynamics of gender issues in Math and Sciences were like as they were growing up.

Though the conference was very successful for the most part, Belanger admitted that there were a few minor difficulties. The Planning Committee had decided to separate students from their friends and classmates to encourage interaction with other students. Some students and parents were upset by this and threatened to leave.

In another instance, food provided for lunch ran out faster than the Planning Committee had anticipated, requiring more food to be ordered. Despite these few obstacles, Belanger emphasized that the conference was great fun and very successful.

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