Gaithersburg Girl Scouts Build a Better Future

GAITHERSBURG, MD
On Sunday, April 22, thirty Girl Scouts participated in Engineering Day, an event designed to enable the girls to earn their "Build a Better Future" badge. Earning the badge is one step required to become a Cadette, one of the higher levels of Girl Scout rank.

The Baltimore-Washington Section of the Society of Women Engineers volunteered to help the girls with four experiments - making slime (a polymer), building the tallest tower out of straws, connecting circuits to make a doorbell ring, and using marbles as ball bearings to reduce friction.

While playing with her slime, 11-year-old Katie Mullineaux observed, "You could even do a project in science class with this."

After the Scouts completed their experiments, Lei Zhou, a member of the Society of Women Engineers, talked about how she decided to become an engineer. Zhou explained that she couldn't say much about her government job because it's secret, but she was able to tell stories about what her engineer friends work on, such as face cream, video games, and airplanes. She concluded by performing a math trick with playing cards, giving the Girl Scouts a homework assignment to figure out how the trick worked.


Gaithersburg Girl Scouts show off their towers made of straw. Back row: Colleen McAleer, Jackie Talbert, Emily Nelson, Mary Beth Parshall, Taylla Smith, Katherine Hurley, Ashleigh Murray, Colleen Cain. Second row: Carolina Roa, Alexa Simon, Kim Oyefusi, Tess Murphy, Anne Parkinson. Kneeling: Aurora Simon, Rebecca Reily, Camille Murphy, Bridget Cassidy, Shannon Bernier, Diane Miller, Katie Mullineaux. Sitting: Ali Gargulinski, Natasha James, Katya Feerrar, Julia Willingham.

Girl Scouts Shannon Bernier, Katie Mullineaux, Diane Miller, Carly Tomes, Bridget Cassidy, and Katya Feerrar play with their slime while SWE member Lisa Schaefer looks on.

A version of this article appeared in the Gaithersburg Gazette on Wednesday, May 2.