Enabling girls to pursue interests in the STEM fields

The Problem

The number of women choosing to pursue technology related fields is drastically disproportionate to the number of men those same fields. (NSF)

Girls need more encouragement from a younger age to continue into the fields of Engineering and Computer Science throughout their education.

Our Goal

Computer Science and Engineering industries can only benefit from an increase in the number of women in technology. Diversity in anything is critical to success. We aim to empower girls with the ability to make an informed choice about their future by exposing them to new technologies that interest them.

How we get there

We conduct workshops and day camps that aim to teach girls new technologies that combine engineering, computer science and the arts.

girls working at table

Research and Development

Identifying new, engaging technologies that span multiple disciplines

Two girls with help

Events

Engaging participants, volunteers and sponsors

Girl Typing

Open Source

Creating handy online guides explaining each activity, enabling anyone to lead their own workshop

Yes! This class has really broadened my horizons on technology.

History

We started Etiquette Creative with the goal of finding a way to encourage girls to enter into STEM fields. With an understanding of the disparity between the number of men and women in STEM fields, we began researching ways to engage girls in technology at a younger age.

We used the LilyPad Arduino, a microcontroller designed by Leah Buechley, as a test case and created an hour long workshop called "Tinkering with Microcontrollers".

With the support of the University of Texas at Dallas EMAC Program and the Design Your World, Conference for Girls, we conducted our first experimental session with a group of 20 middle-school girls; and it was great! The girls lit up their own microcontrollers after learning about:

What started as a 30-minute workshop quickly grew into a three-day, hands-on intensive camp for girls. We reformatted and grew the program to include all phases of the product lifecycle including design, prototype, build and test of their own light up bag.

Our goal is to empower girls with the ability to make an informed choice about their future by exposing them to new technologies that interest them. We are dedicated to providing programming workshops that are interesting and intellectually challenging for young girls to create a talent pipeline for the STEM industries.