Girl Scout Organizes Robotics Camp For Underprivileged Youth - Community News Story - KSAT San Antonio

Girl Scout Organizes Robotics Camp For Underprivileged Youth

Teen Runs Camp For Gold Star Award Project

Eileen Gonzales, KSAT 12 News Reporter

POSTED: Friday, August 6, 2010

UPDATED: 5:22 pm CDT August 6, 2010

SAN ANTONIO -- While most teens have summer dreams of beaches and shopping malls, 17-year-old Haley Demos had the vision of organizing a robotics camp for underprivileged children.

Watch Eileen Gonzales' Report

"I figured that I would hold a camp for young kids to get introduced to science technology, engineering and mathematics for kids who can't really afford it," she said.

Demos organized the camp as part of her Girl Scouts Gold Award Project. It's the highest ranking for a Girl Scout and equivalent to the Boy Scouts' Eagle Scout ranking.

The project had to benefit the community and she had to do every bit of planning herself.

"I've been working on it for two months, probably (for) more than 250 hours, (in) every spare moment that I have," said Demos.

During the five-day camp, kids build and program robots using science, engineering and math skills, she said. They then put the the robots to the test on an obstacle course.

Judging from the response, it was a big hit.

"It's been really fun," said 10-year-old Alyssa Snow. "I really like this because, one, I get to meet new people and two, I get to do math and science which are the two things I love about school."

"I really like it," 8-year-old Adrian Langley said. "I want to be an engineer when I grow up."

Demos said she sacrificed her summer for the project. She said it almost didn't happen, however. She said her appendix burst two and half weeks ago, but she recovered just in time.

Next, she said she'll present the project to a Girl Scout council for approval.

However, she said she feels she's already received a lasting reward.

"It's all been worth it just to see the smiles on the kids' faces," she said.

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Great story from San Antonio passed on to me from Joel Adkins, Technology Director for Kerrville ISD in Kerrville, Texas.

We need more students to take charge such as Haley Demos has done in organizing a robotics camp for underprivileged students. I wonder where she got the itch for STEM?

Please pass this onto students who you know are looking for projects, ideas and/or programs to participate in. Do you think colleges/ universities will be interested in a person such as Haley?

Posted via email from Reflexions