girlsbuild Lennox Academy brings real action
As a group of Latinx with a passion for STEM and giving back to our community, we planned, mentored, and held the 1st Annual Lennox STEM Fair that was widely popular and considered a hit event for the community and all of it's stakeholders in Lennox, California. We want to inspire other girls and members of the LatinX community, and overall people of color, to pursue careers in STEM.
A main reason as to why individuals feel discouraged to do so is because of the lack of representation and diversity in this field. This project is not only to encourage but to ultimately provide resources and show that anyone is capable of pursuing any career of their choice. We also want to give those who don't have the opportunity to be exposed to such career fields, whether it's because of social or economic reasons, a chance to expand their knowledge and gain new experiences.
A main reason as to why individuals feel discouraged to do so is because of the lack of representation and diversity in this field. This project is not only to encourage but to ultimately provide resources and show that anyone is capable of pursuing any career of their choice. We also want to give those who don't have the opportunity to be exposed to such career fields, whether it's because of social or economic reasons, a chance to expand their knowledge and gain new experiences.
Summary Video
We've attached a video that takes you through our complete project process. Please click here to watch and get a better understanding of what we did!
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Our STEM Fair had three main competitions: VEX Robotics, Bridge Building, and Solar Car Racing. The VEX Robotics competition involved teams racing to build patterns flashed with their robot. Bridge Building involved constructing a bridge made out of wooden sticks and testing which could withstand the most weight. Our Solar Car competition involved designing and building a solar car which would then be raced against every school on the day of the competition. A month prior to the event, our team met with the students competing to get to know each other through STEM activities. We called this the February meet and greet. Soon after, we would begin visiting students competing from various schools, 2-3 times a week, helping them prepare for the competition. In addition to the three main competitions, our GBLA members planned other aspects of the event, including layouts and activities for the day such as the several booths available for all our guests, not just the competitors. Said booths were car building, balloon drop, car building, and tons more!
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GALLERY
STEM CompetitionsIn our first annual STEM FAIR we wanted to bring three main competitions for the amazing elementary and middle schools in Lennox. Our team got the opportunity to mentor amazing children and teens attending Moffett, Buford, Felton, Jefferson, Huerta and LMS for 5 consecutive weeks prior to the STEM Fair. We got to train and teach them how to create and design a bridge that could hold the most amount of weight. Having every bridge tested on the amount it could hold by gradually adding weight till the bridge couldn’t handle it anymore. For the VEX Robotics competition students had the opportunity to build and program their own robot in order to complete challenges on the big day of the fair. Schools were set up into a bracket where two schools would go head to head and the winning school would move onto the next round. In the Solar Car competition students were allowed to create their own solar powered car with materials provided that could be the fastest and carry the most weight. Testing out the speed challenge by timing how long it took a car to reach a certain amount of distance and having teams decide how much weight their car could hold while it was still running. Ultimately, these three competitions came to a conclusion on the day of the Fair and we got to see six amazing schools go head to head in an exciting and educational competition.
Competition winners 2023BRIDGE Competition
1st Place : Buford Elementary School Alexxa Jinenez, Nayeli Macias, Jennifer Carera, Allyson De Pablo, Brittny Ontiveros 2nd Place: Dolores Huerta Elementary School Matthew Del Real, Eli Dominguez, Diego Garcia, Sergio Ruiz, Kennedy Velasquez 3rd Place: Felton Elementary School Emmanuel Romero, Victoria Badillo, Damien Perez, Aliceson Mota, Jesse Mateo SOLAR CAR Competition 1st Place : Moffett Elementary School Mateo Diaz,Carlos Flores, Stephanie Santos, Matias Pelayo, Natalie Vazquez, Ethan Garibay 2nd Place: Dolores Huerta Elementary School Hayley Flores, Jaime Garcia, Carissma Garibay, Uriel Sapon, Christina Valdez 3rd Place: Buford Elementary School Priscilla Hernandez, Melinda Ledezma, Luis Morales, Kayla Barragan, Allison Gutierrez VEX IQ Competition 1st Place : Jefferson Elementary School Aaron Guillen, Jayden Torres, Devin Jackson, Deliah Felix 2nd Place: Moffett Elementary School Lucas Medina, Daniel Amador, Alex Berron, Aliah Osorio, Andrea Rodrigues, Lilian Cerna, Candy Garcia 3rd Place: Buford Elementary School Vanessa Hermosillo, Belen Velasquez, Jessica Carranza, Denise Diaz, Melody Lozano 
Project Needgirls build anthing they wantWith this event we plan to get more individuals to pursue a career in the STEM field. As well as to teach and guide them to new opportunities and professions in the variety of fields in engineering. We hope that by creating these opportunities for the Lennox community it would encourage more of the Latinx community to want to have a profession in STEM. Currently, 8% of people working in the STEM field are Latinx, in comparison to white people who make up 67% of the STEM force. By exposing minorities to STEM at a young age in a fun and interesting way, we hope to spark fascination with the subject. Which can cause an increase in the amount of Latinx people in the STEM workforce.
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The Activity Pass This year's passion project, STEM FAIR, revolved on outreaching to the community around our school in the city of Lennox. Our goal was to reach out to the younger kids and teens in our community and give them exposure to STEM. One of the main parts to the Fair was creating activities for all students to participate in. Whether they had some down time between challenges or they were students who had come out to support, there were activities for everyone.
We planned several different activities that revolved around STEM such as the Egg Drop, Balloon Car, Cardboard Hand, Boat Design, and the Earthquake tower which each had their own individual booth. With each of the activities we planned the students would have to use their creative ideas and design skills to complete a task at hand. Including our planned out activities, our sponsors, Coding Ninjas, El Camino College, Lennox Academy and Water Basin, all had their own individual booths varying from creating objects or simply handing out information. Each student who attended the event received a passport where all of the events and different activities were laid out. The students would have to participate in every activity listed on the passport, and receive stamps from the booths to claim a prize. Prizes varied from brain teasing toys such as rubix cubes, to pencils, and even stickers from our treasure box. This helped us assure that the students would be exposed to every activity and experience different types of projects to see how STEM is used in the real world. 
About GBLASince 2014, GirlsBuild has been a program dedicated to empowering students to make a change in their community by planning and executing a yearly project, allowing them to become leaders, and ensuring that their voices are heard. Through this program, we are not only inspired but motivated to become the change-makers, innovators, and the powerful leaders of tomorrow! GirlsBuild #WhateverTheyWant.
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