In October the ASCE Roanoke Branch participated in Branch Construction’s annual G.I.R.L (Girls in Real Life) Construction Experience which is a STEM outreach event designed for girls of all ages (boys are also allowed to participate in the event) to learn about different careers in STEM through interactive activities, games, and presentations held in Roanoke, Virginia. Companies and organizations related to engineering and construction from all around come to participate in the event. ASCE Roanoke Branch participated with a booth that taught kids about the different soil mechanics related to building sand castles and the impacts of water content on the strengths of sand by building different sand castles of different water contents, as well as model MSE walls with and without tensile reinforcement. The booth was manned by a few members of the ASCE Roanoke Branch and members of Virginia Tech’s student ASCE and GSO (Geotechnical Student Organization) members. The event is completely free to participate with a booth in and Branch provides all tables, signs, hard hat stickers, lunch, etc to volunteers. The event is also completely free to all registered kids.
This was our first year participating in this event and I was very pleased with the event thus I wanted to share with all of you some of the information and statistics from the event in hopes other branches may want to participate with us next year which would allow multiple ASCE booths of different activities. Branch Construction is also discussing holding smaller but similar versions of the event in different locations around Virginia and North Carolina which may end up being in your branch. Additionally, some of the statistical numbers Branch collected could help when organizing other STEM events to know what to expect
- 412 kids participated
- 74% were kids grades K-5 (increase of 119 kids compared to the 2023 event)
- 26% were kids grades 6-12 (increase of 74 kids compared to the 2023 event)
- Shows the need to advertise STEM events better to the grades 6-12
- 43 different companies/organizations
- 320 volunteers
- 93% of participating companies stated they would participate next year (7% said maybe)
Advertising:
- 45% of registrants said they hear about the event from a billboard
- 19% from friends and family
- 6% at school
- 5% Macaroni Kid (Not sure what this means)
- 4% Attended last year
Registered kids came from 65 different cities, some as far away as Chesapeake, Hampton, and Raleigh, but most participants were from Roanoke, Salem, and Rocky Mount.
The booths were also voted on by all the kids, and parents for winners of the following categories:
- Child’s favorite
- Parent’s Favorite
- Most Educational
- Most Fun
Our affiliates, the ASCE Roanoke booth, won 1st place in the “Most Educational” Category. The PDF found here has a lot more of the statistics and breakdown. The Gallery has more photos of the event.