Many of our Outward Bound Costa Rica alumni go on to do amazing things after course. Our Girl Scout Destination alumna Laura F. has taken the lessons and confidence that she gained on course and is spreading her love of science to other girls around the globe. Laura’s Science for Success program started out as a Girl Scout Gold Award project but she was also one of five winners of Microsoft’s YouthSpark Challenge for Change.
Laura wants to encourage young girls all over the world to be more involved in the sciences. Science and math workforces are stereotypically more male dominated, and Laura wants to show girls they are just as capable.
Laura F.
Age: 18
Hometown: Egg Harbor Township, NJ
OBCR Course Attended: Service Challenge 2013
What is Science for Success?
My project focused on encouraging young girls to love science and, furthermore, to consider careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Through Science for Success, I looked to foster a love of science by performing fun experiments with young girls, connecting them to female mentors in STEM, and speaking to professional organizations on how they could help girls connect with science.
How did your time with OBCR help you create Science for Success?
My experience with Outward Bound Costa Rica contributed to my desire to empower children and instill confidence in their ability to succeed in science. From my Outward Bound Costa Rica experience, I am able to share, through my Science for Success presentations, the importance of nature conservation. The girls love hearing about the experiences I had during the Girl Scout Service Challenge OBCR course – saving turtles and the rainforest – and learning how these adventures relate to careers available to them in the natural sciences. (I loved my Outward Bound experience and the supportive network that made infinite possible)!
What does it mean to be a winner of the Global Microsoft YouthSpark Challenge for Change?
As one of the five Winners of the Global Microsoft YouthSpark Challenge for Change, I am so excited to have Microsoft on-board to fund me to upstart Science for Success on my college campus. With the use of Microsoft technology, I can foster a love of STEM more efficiently and on a larger, global scale with the use of Microsoft products via the Internet.
What are your plans for the future?
This summer, as part of the Microsoft Youth Spark Challenge prize for winning, I will be traveling with Microsoft on a volunteer trip to Ecuador in the Amazon. OBCR has prepared me to travel to the Amazon, equipping me with an eagerness to experience the local community and nature in Ecuador so I can further promote the scientific importance of preserving the environment to young girls.
FYI: This Summer is going to be super awesome because I have also been selected by Google to attend the Computer Science Summer Institute in Mountain View, California to learn how to program and code. Another experience I can share to inspire children.
To watch the video and learn more about Laura’s Science For Success project for Microsoft’s YouthSpark Challenge for Change project click here.