RIT - NTID - NTID News - Teens Seize the Day at TechGirlz Camp

Teens Seize the Day at TechGirlz Camp

Democrat and Chronicle - August 7, 2008

Lauren Berger, 12, of Penfield, left, and Lilly Tingler, 11, of Fishers, Ind., install software in their newly built computer at the TechGirlz Camp at RIT/NTID. (Shawn Dowd D&C photographer)

By Erica Bryant, staff writer

Like many middle schoolers, participants in the local TechGirlz Camp spent part of Wednesday morning tweaking their MySpace pages and watching videos on YouTube.

Unlike most of their peers, these young women were using computers that they had built themselves.

Building a PC tower is one of the science and technology related activities planned for the 20 young women who are attending TechGirlz Camp, which is sponsored by the Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf. The week-long residential program is open to seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders and has attracted participants who are hearing-impaired from around the country.

The camp is in its third year. "We want to have them see the options that are open for girls, especially with hearing loss," said Heather Emerson Jeremy, assistant director of pre-college outreach for NTID.

Cortney Sawyer, 13, said she's having a good time. She came from Swan Lake, Sullivan County. "There are a lot of activities I like," said Cortney, who is considering being a scientist, and also an archeologist, fashion designer and horseback rider.

Jasmine Simmons, 14, came from Pickerington, Ohio, and said the camp offered her her first opportunity to build a computer. "It's confusing, but it's fun," she said.

Brian Trager, a member of the information and computing studies faculty at NTID, helped the young women install Windows programs and security and anti-virus software on their computers. "It's a good experience for them," he said. "They're very excited to see whether their computers work."

Activities include workshops on polymerase chain reaction and microbiology, Web page building and a deaf women professional panel. Classes are taught in English and in sign language.

Elissa Olsen, the NTID department chairperson for Information and Computing Studies, noted that such camps were not available when she was growing up as a young deaf woman in Wisconsin. She hopes the young women go home with a sense that they can succeed in traditionally male dominated fields. "Girls can do anything," she said. "It's OK to be interested in math and technology."

EBRYANT@DemocratandChronicle.com