On Saturday April 14th, Dr. Sparks was honored to participate in the inaugural Sussex County Delaware STEM “Engineering Your Tomorrow” event for 6th-8th grade girls. This amazing event featured interactive activities – Dr. Sparks and Dr. Megan Killian coordinated a robotic hand activity where girls learned about biomechanics and motion – drone and robot demonstrations, a rousing speech by the First Lady of Delaware – Tracey Quillen Carney, Dr. Sparks as the key note speaker, and so much more! During her key note address, Dr. Sparks talked how much she didn’t like science when she was in middle school and her journey to become a scientist. In particular, she recalled that when she was the age of these girls, she took a “career survey” that told her she would be nothing when she grew up! She hopes that her story was inspirational to these young girls and is overwhelmed and grateful for the opportunity to participate in this great event. For news coverage and video from the event please click below.
We especially want to thank Cindy Isaacs, the lead event coordinator; Michele Walfred, the volunteer media guru; and Adam Stager, who let us borrow his robot for demonstrations! The girls loved running the robot off the tables and taking selfies with the forward facing camera!
