How a Penn Community Bank sponsorship is powering the oldest all-girls robotics team in nation
Talking over the sound of chatting students and clanking metal of the robotics lab, Paula Soley says that science, technology, engineering, and math โ or STEM โ education is about more than hard numbers and physical products, itโs about developing and applying life skills.
โThe need for girls โ for everyone โ to be scientifically literate is crucial in our economy. But what our girls are really learning are universal skills theyโll need to be successful regardless of where they go or what they do: problem solving, accepting and giving feedback, communicating effectively. Robotics lets them put all things into practice while enjoying STEM.โ
Soley has been the mentor of the Firebirds 433 robotics team at Mount Saint Joseph Academy – an all-girls schoolย in Flourtown, PA โ for the last seven years. As an educator, she sees the programโs 30-plus participants growing beyond the educational aspects of STEM to be the next generation of scientists and engineers.
The Firebirds have been a team at the school since 1998 – before โSTEM was known as STEM,โ notes Soley โ making them the oldest all-girls team in the country competing in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) robotics program, a global robotics league, reaching over 300,000 students in grades K-12. As a team, students are challenged to build industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game in alliance with other teams, while also fundraising to meet their goals, designing a team โbrand,โ and advancing respect and appreciation for STEM within the local community.
Like any team, robotics gives girls a chance to be a part of something bigger than themselves.
โRobotics is still physical, but it is more academic than other spots and clubs โ it really is mental gymnastics,โ says Soley. โOur girls are challenged to stretch their minds both individually and as a team. Theyโre exercising what theyโve learned in the classroom. Itโs amazing to watch them cheer something theyโve been involved with from the start.โ
Asked about the importance of encouraging girls entering the sciences and why robotics resonates with her students, Soley says itโs about giving them โthe opportunity to get involved and experiencing STEM in action, not just pointing out a bias or deficiency of representation.โ
Over 20 years as a team, Soley says the school and community โ including a multi-year partnership with Penn Community Bank – have helped the Firebirds carry out their mission โto create a world in whichย everyone, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or income has access to experiences that celebrate and encourage STEM so that the dreams of today become the realities of tomorrow.โ
Thanks to the program, countless students have gone on to pursue careers in STEM, including many working for the biggest names in technology and engineering, including Lockheed Martin and Johnson & Johnson, Soley proudly notes.
โWeโre so grateful for organizations like Penn Community Bank that are investing in programs that complement academics and focus on problem solving. Regardless of what academic path these girls take or what industry they end up in, the skills theyโre refining will make them better professionals, better adults, and better humans.โ
Practice these skills in application vs. just learning. Thatโs what programs like this do.
- Giving them the opportunity vs. just pointing out a bias or deficit of representation. Stepping up and doing what you love.
