Girl Scout Engineering Day

By Marissa Santoro

Girl Scout Engineering Day 2023 was an in-person event held for Daisy and Brownie scouts in kindergarten through third grade. The event consisted of 40 girl scouts who participated in the three hands-on activities. The event was tailored so all attendees earned the Girl Scouts Automotive Engineering badge trio. This group of badges encouraged the scouts to learn more about automotive manufacturing, design, and production. In addition to this, attendees learned about famous women in STEM as well as power plants from informative presentations given by representatives from GE Power Conversion, one of Pitt SWE’s sponsors.

The first badge, Automotive Design, focused on the creativity involved in designing a new automobile for commercial market. The Girl Scouts sketched, presented, and used modeling clay to mold designs for their dream car. The second badge, Automotive Engineering, focused on building a balloon car. Each scout followed steps to building a working vehicle, learning more about car parts and about the iterative process of engineering design. The third badge, Automotive Manufacturing, focused on the benefit of assembly lines, and mass manufacturing of automobiles. The students were split into groups of five to recreate the car from the previous activity using an assembly line, learning about quality control and efficiency.

The students all expressed enjoyment of this event which would not have been possible without all Pitt SWE members involved in planning and volunteering. I would like to especially thank my co-chairs Gabby Brubach, Elyse Chess, Neha Manoj, and Rachel Thornton.