Field trips are always a highlight of Strong Women, Strong Girls. Once each semester, the mentors plan a field trip for the girls. Sometimes the field trips take place on the chapter’s college campus, and other times the mentors plan an off-campus trip. I am a member of the Simmons College Chapter of Strong Women, Strong Girls, and our field trips have many goals for the girls:
- Have fun
- Learn about a new subject
- Learn about a potentially male-dominated field
We find it important to expose girls to male-dominated fields like politics, math, and science because we hope the girls will become interested in the topics and want to learn more about them. This semester, the Simmons chapter of Strong Women, Strong Girls took the girls to the Boston Museum of Science for a sleepover.
We brought 80 girls and 25 mentors for a science-filled field trip. The evening started with an introductory session about noise. The girls learned about different kinds of sound and were able to make a lot of noise! The girls then had free reign to explore the museum, which was closed to the public. Among the girls’ favorite exhibits were “Making Models,” “Mathematica,” “The Lighthouse,” and “The Playground.” All of the exhibits had interactive models and games for the girls and mentors to use to learn and play. The night wrapped up by watching the Museum’s well-known “Lightning Show,” in which the girls were able to see and learn about lightning first-hand. The morning and fun began again at 6:45a.m. with a wake-up call made by the museum workers. After breakfast, the girls enjoyed the “Planetarium Show,” in which they were able to see the Boston night sky. We learned about constellations and were able to locate them in the sky. The field trip came to a close with a movie about animals and wildlife in the Museum’s Omni Theater.
Strong Women, Strong Girls had an amazing and successful field trip to the Science Museum. The number of women working in science-related fields is steadily increasing. Our chapter hopes that the field trip to the Science Museum will inspire our girls to explore science-related fields and keep this trend on the right track.