The Michigan Council of Women in Technology, using research on when most girls lose interest in technical subjects, has been running a summer technology camp for middle school girls for five years now. The goals of Camp Infinity are to solve these three key issues:
confidence and capability
coolness (overcome negative “geek” perceptions)
social relevance (girls want to see how it is important to the world)
We address these issues by offering a fun, all-girls camp, with hands-on building of robots, computer game design, and the company of friends and high-school and college counselors. We also bring in women with real-world technology careers to show their impact on society – like the CIO of Leader Dogs for the Blind.
The camp is hugely popular, and the annual waiting list has gotten so long we have started the Camp Infinity Blueprints program to share all our learning, tools, curricula, and methods to other groups who want to create their own, similar camps. Find it at http://mcwtf.org under Camp Infinity Blueprints program.
