Tech Trek is an exciting and engaging one-week summer camp for girls featuring hands-on science and technology classes, fun and educational field trips, opportunities to meet inspiring women role models, and a unique college campus experience at either Stetson University in DeLand or the Florida Atlantic Honors College in Jupiter.

Recently, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Summer Tech Trek camps were cancelled.  For 2021, the Tech Trek program managers will invite the campers that were chosen for this year’s camp to attend this year’s ONLINE event.

AAUW-Gainesville sincerely thanks all of the donors who supported the Tech Trek program this year by our 2020 mail-in “Red Stocking Tea.”  Your generous donations enable us to select three campers and to pay the camp tuition for each of them.  Watch this space for news about the 2021 Red Stocking Tea in December.

For more information regarding Tech Trek, visit AAUW-Florida’s Official Tech Trek page.

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Meet the Gainesville students who attended the 2019  Tech Trek STEM camps sponsored by AAUW’s Gainesville Branch, pictured left to right: Taylor Kovi, Hope Armstrong, and Selina Liu:

All three young women chosen to receive Gainesville sponsorships in 2019 attend A.L. Mebane Middle School in Alachua.  At a AAUW-Gainesville branch meeting, the students reported on their unique Tech Trek experiences.

Taylor presented a PowerPoint describing her week-long stay in a dorm at Stetson University in DeLand. “Having girls with similar interests around me made me feel like there are other girls who also enjoy science,” she said.  Taylor especially liked meeting professional women in STEM careers, especially in marine biology and rocket science.  “At the end of the week, I wished that the week would have been longer and that I got to do more marine biology.”

Hope also attended Tech Trek at Stetson.  She was very excited about the experience to be at a college campus. Her core class was ‘Living in a Plastic World’.  In her thank-you note to the AAUW-Gainesville, Hope stated: “Tech Trek taught me how to stand up for equality and equity for women.  I also learned so much about marine biology, pollution, debris, DNA, engineering and coding/programming.  I am so thankful for your generous funding and acceptance.”

Selina chose to attend the Tech Trek program at Florida Atlantic University Honors College in Jupiter.  Her favorite activity was the Professional Women’s Night dinner “where I got to meet awesome ladies and ask questions.”  Her experience helped her to broaden her career goals to include cyber security and statistics.