She Leads STEM Summer Camp at FestaVille!
By Ellie Kim, Founder
I got the opportunity to work with FestaVille over the summer, along with some people on our non-profit team, as well as volunteers! I came in to conduct my research project by surveying the kids and analyzing the changes in the results before and after hands-on STEM-based activities. We came in as an all-female team in an effort to bring more female role models in STEM and worked with kids ages 4-11!
Block Coding
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The kids were in different levels with coding, so we went to code.org on their iPads and guided them through different coding projects. This website was helpful in that some kids who were more experienced were able to move through the levels really quickly, while other kids needed more help and practiced easier levels. They also had the opportunity to work together on a code, and share what they were doing to some younger campers!
She Leads STEM volunteer Emma helping a camper with her code!
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A Festaville camper sharing the code she created with her younger sister.
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Marshmallow Towers
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For Day 2, we took a break from the screens to do a hands-on engineering challenge. The kids were put into teams, and were asked to build the tallest tower with just toothpicks and marshmellows!
I wanna do this as a grown-up! 
Two campers take a more geometric approach to their towers.
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The winners of the challenge! The tower stands 25.5 cm tall!
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Aluminum Foil Boats
Three future female engineers hard at work creating aluminum foil boats.
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This day, we worked with younger kids from kindergarten to 2nd grade! First, we explored the concepts of floating and sinking by playing a game of “What sinks and what floats!” Afterwards, the kids were given aluminum foil to build boats with, and took turns floating pennies. Some even decided to engineer submarines with pennies inside!
Floating pennies!
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Solar Workshop
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Using a solar energy workshop kit, the campers were able to build their own solar rovers and solar helicopters! They worked in pairs, along with volunteers, and learned to work together as a team to engineer something great!
Helicopter vs. Rover!
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Volunteer Sofie helping three girls build a solar powered helicopter.
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Robotics
Volunteer Kate helping two campers with their LEGO Mindstorm Program.
I'm gonna ask my mom to get this for me! I want to do this at home! 
A robot nicknamed "Barbie" running through a track, decorated in pink and purple bows!
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Campers got an opportunity to play around with LEGO Mindstorm Robots for three days! They tried to complete challenges, like getting the robots to go around the table and run through a track! They explored the different programming options, while other campers got a chance to learn the basic concepts of coding with KUBO Robots.
Fun off-screen coding with KUBO Robots!
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