(Hannah Gunnell/South Indy Connect photo) Southport High School Engineering/Computer Science Teacher Mark Snodgrass and Senior Delaney Campbell started the school’s Women In STEM club this year.
By HANNAH GUNNELL
Southport High School Engineering/Computer Science teacher Mark Snodgrass had two goals this school year.
“This year I had a goal — it’s a long story — my class does an Imagine If? project where they get to pick whatever they want as long as they program and it helps someone,” Snodgrass said. “Last year, I decided to do it along with them and I decided to create ‘Mariokarts’ for the kids. My problem that I’m trying to solve is that I need more kids in computer science. When I showed the kids the robot, they said, ‘That’s too hard, I can’t do that.’ So I worked with UIndy’s racecar team to design these little go kart kits. I just got another grant for $2,000 and now the whole thing is funded! That’s pretty amazing.”
Snodgrass met his second goal, too, with the help of Senior Delaney Campbell.
“The other part of that is if you look at the numbers of our school, we don’t have nearly enough women in engineering or computer science, so the other idea I had was to try to start Women in STEM,” he said. “I had just told several seniors, ‘Hey, I was thinking about this. Look it up and tell me what you think.’ Delaney jumped on board quickly and filled out the forms for the national Women in STEM group.”
There was a virtual call to a professional women, and then the pair began the nationally-affiliated club in August.
“I like it a lot because it’s very challenging,” Campbell said. “With STEM, especially the technology part of it, I end up failing a lot when I try to do stuff but it encourages me to keep going and solve the problem. Like one time, we had to code in to create a game on Arduinos [little robots], and I think it took me a whole month. That’s my favorite part, is challenging myself to get it solved.”
Campbell will be attending UIndy on a full ride for software engineering. She hopes to work in that field after graduation, perhaps with a company like Google. Part of the reason she chose UIndy is because the college’s internship programs boast 100 percent job placement, she said.
Women in STEM at SHS meets every two weeks. A meeting includes a 30-minute video chat with a professional woman in the STEM field (like someone from Google, as of recent).
“A female teacher comes in and sits with them, and I leave,” Snodgrass said. “This way they can ask whatever they want and feel comfortable, because there’s no other guys in the room. I used connections at Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and YouTube is coming up — Endress+Hauser actually came here because they’re local. Covance, the drug company. I have all these professional women coming, and tying this all together was Delaney.”
The point of this setup is to help SHS women network with women already in the STEM field.
“Whenever I see them do it, I think I can definitely do it,” Campbell said. “I know it inspires a lot of girls in our club too, because they’re always asking questions, especially, ‘How does it feel to be a woman in power in STEM?’ So I know it inspires them too.”
After the video call, the Women in STEM are working on two robotics projects: 1. Coding toys for students at Braeburn Imani School in Kenya and 2. a summer camp.
“We’re connected with a school in Kenya and we’re creating toys through coding,” Campbell said. “We’re making toys but they come with flashcards that will be translated in their language with pictures, so once we send the toys over there the students can build it themselves without needing anything.”
The summer camp will take place at the high school this summer for middle school girls and will incorporate fashion and coding. The date is to be determined.
“They’re going to be working on a fashion show,” Campbell said. “They’ll get to learn how to sew, but then they’ll also learn how to code by creating light up dresses using LilyPad [lightup clothing]. Girls from Southport will go over and work the camp for a week.”
(“I’m thinking, Princess Rave,” Snodgrass joked.)
Southport’s Women in STEM program has about 12 students who regularly attend. Two seniors serve as ambassadors, and ambassadors are chosen for next school year so when Campbell and her co-ambassador graduate, club leadership will transition slowly.
In addition to Women in STEM, Snodgrass also coaches the Cardinal robotics team and oversees the Mini Movers program. The latter program builds power wheels for special needs toddlers with mobility issues.
