Shown with Dr. Cherie Long (center top) are Kendal Henderson, Sigrid Melstrom, Robin Brusuelas, Thea Muhlstein and Abigail Lancaster. Also shown are the team’s robot and trophies.
Dr. Long inspires girls to pursue STEM Dr. Cherie Long is on a mission to recruit more young people
competition also helps kids discover exciting STEM career
GGC faculty members are required to devote some of their
to society.
into computer science and engineering, particularly girls.
time to service in their disciplines. Choosing to perform her
possibilities and ways they can make positive contributions After a decade of coaching boys’ teams, Long recently led
service in an alternative way, Long sought to work with children.
an all-girl team of eight- and nine-year-olds with no robotics
the program, I decided to become a coach as a way to get more
challenge because she felt a personal connection.
“A friend told me about First Lego League and after researching
kids interested and involved in STEM (science, technology,
knowledge or experience. She enthusiastically accepted the According to a recent report by the U.S. Department of
engineering, mathematics) at an early age. Waiting until middle
Commerce, women hold only 27 percent of all computer science
Long, associate professor of information technology. “The
bachelor’s degrees in computer science are awarded to women,
school is usually too late to get most students interested,” said
opportunity aligns well with GGC’s vision to build partnerships with local communities and ultimately, enhance businesses.”
First Lego League is a nationwide, multi-faceted competition
that immerses teams of children ages 9-14 in real-world science
and technology challenges. The teams work together to develop
a research project, presentation and a Lego robot programmed to perform certain tasks.
Participants learn to innovate, draw on imaginative thinking
and work as a team while developing valuable life skills. The
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jobs and the number is not increasing. Less than 20 percent of
even though women hold 60 percent of all bachelor’s degrees. “Girls are vastly different from boys in that they interact and
learn differently. I had to completely change how I normally coach to accommodate their needs,” Long said. “For example, girls are much more critical of their work, and their style of presenting is
quieter. They tend to talk about their failures or difficulties rather than about their successes.”
This year’s competition theme centered on the interaction of
people and animals. The girls designed a dog vest customized
