The Bucks County Intermediate Unit's daylong seminar, focused on empowering girls interested in science and technology.
About 200 middle- and high-school girls from public and private schools throughout Bucks County - and a few outside the county, from as far away as Wilkes-Barre - gathered at the IU in Doylestown Township on Wednesday to learn about technology-related career opportunities, ranging from computer game design to regenerative medicine to forensic science.
"Science is something that interests me a lot; I want to explore the different parts and see how far I want to go," said Tanya Kumir, an eighth-grader at Holland Middle School, part of the Council Rock School District. "I like hearing the hands-on things that people are actually doing every day."
The 13-year-old is already succeeding in science; she placed first in a regional science fair, studying the antibacterial properties of the neem tree, a tree that is native to India, but has been brought into the United States.
Tanya said she was particularly interested in learning more about forensic science - that seminar was so popular that Thwaites had to hold a second session to accommodate all the girls who wanted to attend her lecture and demonstration.
That enthusiasm was evident throughout the day. A group of Palisades High School students - wearing purple T-shirts for their award-winning robotics team, the Cybersonics - peppered presenters with questions after sessions, and approached IU staff to say how excited they were about the event.
Rachel Stoczko, an 11th-grader at the Upper Bucks high school, said she was getting a lot of ideas for career paths. Stoczko, marketing manager for the Cybersonics, said she is interested in working as a sales engineer someday.
She was particularly inspired to meet real women, making a living in what are often referred to as STEM careers - short for science, technology, engineering and math.
"You always hear about them, but to actually see them is different," she said.
