Girl Scouts Think Like Engineers at Sweet Briar College

Date Published: April 5, 2023

On March 25, 111 Girl Scouts from our council attended the Think Like an Engineer journey event. The event was hosted by Sweet Briar College, who has one of only two degree- granting engineering programs at a women’s college in the U.S. Rising 8th-12th grade Girl Scouts worked on earning their Think Like an Engineer badge by participating in three different engineering experiments led by Sweet Briar engineering students.

This event ties into the council wide effort to get Girl Scouts interested in careers in STEM. The Girl Scouts started their day with friendly competition by making an assembly line using the materials included in Sweet Briar’s engineering program kits. Whichever team assembled the most kits in five minutes was declared the winner. Next, they measured an earthquake’s highest peak with the Shake and Quake experiment. This showed the effects of earthquakes on buildings and gave participants a chance to learn what frequency would make a building collapse. The day was concluded with exploring how the flow of air affects a vehicle’s speed by observing a wind tunnel.

Girl Scouts were full of excitement and ideas for completing their Take Action project to earn their badges. Sweet Briar College president Meredith Woo told Amherst News,“It is the first time an event of this kind has been put together, but we hope to see this continue and grow.”

Thank you to Sweet Briar College for helping to create a fun and memorable day!