It’s Exciting Times for Tech Trek By Marlys Huez

On Sunday, March 3, the time arrived to meet the vibrant young women who have applied to represent our branch at Tech Trek Camp.

After diligent work by Gloria Yost and Kathleen Deaver with the cooperation and assistance of teachers at 24 middle schools, eight applications were completed and successfully loaded into the CampDoc system.  The committee was able to use the conference room at Bel Air Market on Arden Way as a meeting place and interview location.  The girls, all seventh graders, arrived for their interview with eager parents and some with other family members accompanying them.

Selection to attend camp at UC Davis, or even to attend a virtual camp, can be an opportunity that changes a young woman’s life.  It can ignite an existing spark of interest in STEM, feed strong interests in a field of study, or simply create an insatiable desire to attend college.

The committee’s task was to evaluate the students’ enthusiasm for STEM fields, the availability of opportunities to the student, and evidence of curiosity and potential.  Along with teacher evaluations and essays submitted by the girls, the committee then met to select the six applicants who would have the opportunity to attend the residential camp and the two who would be offered the virtual camp.  Working together, Marlys Huez, Tech Trek coordinator, with committee members Monique Stovall and Mary Miller, reached consensus on the girls who would attend.  The letters have gone out to the campers, the camp directors have been notified and we eagerly look forward to the next steps of Tech Trek.  We encourage anyone with an interest in this important project to join the 2024 committee and volunteer to help with camp activities in person or virtually in July.