Girls, Coding & Robots get the Greenlight at OSCON 2012!

style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; color: rgb(98, 98, 98); font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; ">In Portland, Oregon on 18 & 19 July 2012, in the context of OSCON 2012 - the largest open source conference in the world - Greenlightforgirls.org will carry out Greenlight@OSCON Days 2012 (“g4gOSCON2012”), a two-day event providing forty girls the opportunity to design, program and deploy hands-on missions involving robots, space and ICT, in order to show the fun in science and technolgy, and to promote these areas as study and career choices for girls.

g4gOSCON2012 will be led by Cheryl Miller, Technology Chair for the greenlight for girlsfoundation (“g4g”) and Tasha Carl, Founder of ICT2ACT and g4g Robotics Community Leader.  The event will be supported on the ground by young g4g volunteer assistants and volunteer female role model professionals from the field.

g4gOSCON2012 will take place from 10am to 4pm on 18 & 19 July 2012, within the OSCON exhibition hall at the Oregon Convention Center.

If you are interested in collaborating on the "Girls, Coding & Robots" activity at OSCON 2012, please contact us!  To register for g4gOSCON2012 please go here!

Update on Friday, May 25, 2012 at 4:12PM

We are thrilled to announce our first official sponsor of g4gOSCON2012:  

Black Duck Software

in Burlington, Massachusetts!  Thank you to Black Duck Software, and to all our other fabulous parters and supporters of Greenlight@OSCON Days 2012! 

First-ever US Greenlightforgirls.org Event took place on 11 June 2011!

>SATURDAY, JUNE 11TH 2011 
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS DARTMOUTH

Greenlightforgirls.org, in partnership with The Kaput Center, hosted an all-day FREE event for girls age 11-15 years-old to learn about Science and Technology. 150 girls chose to attend 3 of a possible 17 workshops. The workshops relate to topics in the fields of Science, Health & Beauty, Oceanography and Engineering.  Take a look at all the workshops here: list of workshops (pdf file)!

The Kaput Center also held an Invention Contest for girls attending this event. Prizes were offered for the top 3 most creative inventions.

See what others wrote about our first US event...

STEM-ming the stereotype tide:  Girls get the "Greenlight" to study science, technology, engineering and math, Southcoast Today  

Local programs steer girls towards science, New England Business Bulletin

Contact us to find out how you can be a part of our greenlight for girls events and activities in the US! 

Greenlight@Brussels Day 2011 Inspires Girls to Study Math & Science!

On Saturday, 26 November 2011, over 250 schoolgirls from Brussels descended on the International School of Brussels, host to the second annual Greenlight@Brussels Day, an event promoting science, technology engineering and mathematics ("STEM") to 11-15 year old girls.  With over 100 hands-on workshops run by role-model scientists, engineers and technology experts, and a Fun Lab full of the latest high-tech gadgetry and science experiments, attendees were exposed to a wide array of exciting activities to inspire them to pursue technical studies and careers.  The event was also officially part of EU Robotics Week and the International Year of Chemistry 2011.

The feedback shows an impact:

In a follow-up survey to the event, a full 94 percent of girls who attended Greenlight@Brussels Day 2011 said the event encouraged them to pursue science subjects, and this from some who are not currently enrolled in science studies.

"We are amazed and excited that the feedback from the girls is so positive," says greenlight for girls European Director, Cheryl Miller.  "We hope for this kind of outcome from the events we do, but to see such a big impact in practice is really great," she adds.

Just getting started: 

"In our first year, greenlight for girls has run over fifteen free events in Europe, the US and Africa," says greenlight for girls Founder, Melissa Rancourt.  "In 2012, we plan to build out our 'daisychain' network in Europe, India and Africa, and South America too," she says, "and we're really looking forward to seeing such success repeat itself around the world."

More positive feedback:

Further testimony from the hundreds of event volunteers and participants at Greenlight@Brussels Day 2011 attests to the variety of activities held and the excitement the event generated.  A sampling of feedback when asked about their "favorite part of the day" includes:

• seeing girls carrying worms around
• getting dirty from the big bang theory workshop
• all their questions about the Solar plane
• seeing girls participate in the Mars ESA mission
• learning the science of beauty and the engineering of fashion design
• being live news reporters and photographers during the day
• discovering life in a test tube
• being a part of a global water experiment
• shooting a rocket outside
• guessing the magician’s tricks
• painting their labcoats with designs and messages about girls and science
• making daisies change colours
• linking music to science
• building the internet
• programming robots
• designing my dream home

The greenlight for girls Foundation and their Board Members in Brussels, Cheryl and Melissa, express their gratutide to everyone who contributed to the success of Greenlight@Brussels Day 2011, including Keynote Speaker Annie Chen from Google, and a vast list of partners and sponsors.  More information on the event itself, including photos, video and workshop output, will be shared here in the coming days and weeks.

Our Partners for this event were:

• ISB
• CISCO
• Boston University
• Microsoft
• Away Magazine

VP Kroes Names Greenlight for Award Purse

On 10 September 2011, Ms. Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, will honor greenlight for girls ASBL with a prize purse in the name of the International Compostela Group-Xunta de Galicia Prize being awarded to Ms. Kroes this year for playing "a relevant role in the development of world values."

For its XV edition, the Compostela Prize Jury unanimously decided to award the prize to Ms. Kroes in acknowledgement of her work "in fostering communication among different cultures and mutual understanding," in the spirit of the Prize and the Group itself.  Commissioner Kroes has chosen Greenlightforgirls.org as the benefactor of the 6000 Euro purse attached to the Prize.

Cheryl Miller, European Director and Technology Chair of greenlight for girls ASBL, will be on hand to present Ms. Kroes with her award, and to formally accept the prize purse on behalf of Greenlightforgirls.org, at the Compostela Prize ceremony in Braga, Portugal on 10 September 2011.

The Compostela Group is a consortium of nearly seventy member universities worldwide whose main aim is to foster cooperation and promote dialogue in all fields related to higher education.

Update on Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 10:27PM 

style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em; color: rgb(98, 98, 98); font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; ">The video address of Commissioner Kroes on the event of her acceptance of the Compostela Prize has now been shared with us by the organizers, and boy are we excited!

Commissioner Kroes had some lovely things to say -- in general, and about greenlight for girls, in specific!  Please see the video, and in particular, from 5’30”:

And, I am particularly pleased to be able to donate the Prize funds to an organization very close to my heart:

greenlight for girls exists to promote science, technology, engineering and math to girls of all ages.  These days, the ICT sector needs a wider range of skills than ever before. If we are not to risk a skills gap in the future, we need to make sure that we aren’t keeping women from fulfilling their potential for careers in the sector.

greenlight for girls are to be congratulated for their active work, so important and relevant to the digital agenda goals.  Thank you once again.”

Thank you, Vice President Kroes!

European School Gives Greenlight for Science!

On 21 May, Greenlightforgirls.org volunteers were asked to visit the European School in Mol, Belgium to inspire children about science! Watch the video and see how we did!

Global Campaign for Women's & Girls' Education

On 11 May, Greenlightforgirls.org and Serve the City partnered with two after-school programs, Caria and Epée, in the Marolles area of Brussels, Belgium to highlight the importance of education for girls and women.  Ellen Geerts, from the ESERO project of the European Space Agency, Erin Anzelmo and Cheryl Miller led two fun science activities for a group of 25 girls, and a few exceptional boys, who enjoyed the afternoon thoroughly.  Children from the after-school program "Caria" also read moving testimonials from girls and women whose lives have been changed by gaining access to basic education.  The activity was part of the week-long Global Campaign for Education for Girls and Women.