PALO ALTO GIRL SCOUT TROOP WINS AWARD FOR HIGHEST SCORING ROBOT

OAKLAND, Calif. (November 16, 2015) – Last Sunday, Girl Scouts ruled robots. In addition to hosting, organizing and mentoring a large, youth robotics tournament at NASA, the Palo Alto team who took home a top prize also happened to be a Girl Scout troop.

The Space Cookies – a specialized, Girl Scout robotics team sponsored by NASA Ames Research Center– hosted sixteen teams of aspiring youth engineers participating in the FIRST Lego League Qualifying Tournament at the NASA Ames Research Center. More than 100 boys and girls between the ages of nine and fourteen designed and programmed robots based on this year’s theme, “Trash Trek.” The teams were judged in three areas: robot design, research project and core values (teamwork). The fourth area of the tournament was performance of each team’s robot in a field with a pre-determined set of challenges to complete (missions).

Only five teams qualified for the regional championship later this year and Girl Scout Troop 60339 from Palo Alto received the Robot Performance Award for the highest scoring robot.

“Along with the Space Cookie’s incredible leadership in organizing this tournament, the fact that a Girl Scout troop took home a top prize exemplifies that early exposure to hands-on STEM education is making an impact with girls,” said Susan Cheng, Girl Scout Troop Co-leader and FIRST Robotics Mentor. “According to labor statistics only 25 percent of STEM careers are held by women. The Space Cookies program introduces young women to STEM at an early age, and as a result, 99 percent of former Space Cookies pursue majors in these field.”

For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Lego League is part of the FIRST series of robotics programs and is designed to introduce and encourage student interest in STEM in children ages nine to fourteen. Each year, the Challenge focuses on a current scientific area of interest; this year’s topic is called Trash Trek. For their research projects, teams select and study some problem related to “trash” and come up with innovative solutions.

The Girl Scouts that organized the event are part of a troop called “Space Cookies,” a group of over 110 girls from high schools across the Bay Area. Space Cookies has extensive STEM outreach activities both for Girl Scouts and in the wider community in the Bay Area. Last year’s Space Cookies team was invited to attend the National Championship because of their STEM outreach to the local and international constituencies.

The Palo Alto troop and four other teams will go on to compete at a regional championship later this year.

About Girl Scouts of Northern California

Girl Scouts of Northern California serves a diverse membership of 49,000 girls and over 32,000 adult volunteers in a 19-county area from Gilroy to the Oregon border. Girl Scouts builds girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. To learn more about Girl Scouts of Northern California, visit GirlScoutsNorCal.org

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