WVC hosts Expanding Your Horizons conference for middle school girls March 12, 2011

Wenatchee Valley College is inviting girls in grades six through nine to the Wenatchee campus on Saturday, March 12, for its “Expanding Your Horizons” conference. This event will consist of workshops led by local professional women and WVC faculty and staff members who have made careers in math, science and technology-related fields.

Brochures are available online at www.wvc.edu/expandingyourhorizons.asp or by calling 682.6847. Students must register for the event online and mail the registration fee to WVC. The workshops are limited to 15 students each, so students should register now, preferably before March 5. The conference will begin in Wenatchi Hall with check-in at 8:30 a.m. and run until 1:00 p.m. The $10 registration fee covers all conference materials and lunch.

“We want to show young girls that the class choices they make in school today can have real impact on their future and careers,” said Richard Logan, WVC faculty member. “Of course, we’re going to have a lot of fun in the process,” he added.

The conference will offer 10 workshops that will give girls a first-hand view of careers that involve science, technology, engineering and math. Titles include:

• Passing Gas for Fun and Profit: What is an anesthesiologist and what does she do?
• Potions, Lotions and Math in Motion – Pharmacy Wizards Tell All.
• Wild about Wildlife. Keeping wood ducks and their babies safe with nest boxes.
• Microscopic Me. Students look at their own cells up close and personal.

The individual workshops will be followed by an inspiring session with guest speaker, Karlene Petitt, Delta Air Lines A330 pilot and aspiring author, who has flown 747s around the world, worked for eight commercial airlines, taught jumbo jet instruction and holds two master’s degrees. She will share the message with students that “You, too, can have it all.”

“Expanding Your Horizons” is a national career awareness program that encourages girls to continue studying math and science through high school and into college, as well as to evoke their interest in the career fields involving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines.