Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas (GSNETX) recently hosted 20 high school girls from across the country at its Biomedical Engineering Destination Camp, sponsored by McKesson. The program served girls with an interest in engineering, coding and medicine.
STEM is the fastest growing sector of the U.S. economy and a space where women are woefully underrepresented. The camp furthered GSNETX’s goal of closing the gap for STEM access and changing the trajectory of the STEM workforce pipeline in North Texas.
The one-of-a-kind Biomedical Engineering Destination camp was conducted at the GSNETX STEM Center of Excellence in South Dallas and 15 states were represented among the attendees.
Attendees explored real-world topics, like how the heart shrinks in size in astronauts that spend significant time in gravity, how to design prosthetic and assistive materials utilizing 3D printing technologies, and how to design an effective sterilization or sanitization system to defend against viral and terminal viruses. Texas Instruments and iCode facilitated the workshops focusing on medical coding.
Participants also experienced offsite trips to Texas Christian University, Scottish Rite for Children, McKesson Corporation and Reunion Tower. The field trip to the McKesson offices including a discussion with Nancy Flores, Executive Vice President & Chief Information and Technology Officer, who spoke about her leadership journey.
The camp also incorporated key Girl Scout activities, such as a low ropes course, archery, ziplining and traditional Girl Scout camping.
