Outreach

 

G.L.O.W. was established as an organization that is heavily involved in outreach activities for both young earth scientists as well as encouraging interest in the sciences among local young females. Below are listed some of the events that we have participated in the past.

Pathways to Diversity: Community Fall Meeting: 

GLOW participated in a Jackson School of Geosciences town hall meeting to discuss the ongoing efforts of various organizations within the JSG to support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts. This discussion involved several different panelists, including several undergraduate and graduate student organizations and recruitment and outreach teams. GLOW shared about our organization’s mission to support women in the geosciences and how to get involved in our activities. This was an important school-wide effort to support the DEI activities of the JSG.

Women in STEM Leadership Collaborative Kick-off Organization Fair:
We attended an event for student leaders across several student organizations in STEM fields. This initiative has the goals of advancing gender equity in STEM and supporting students who identify as women, non-binary, gender fluid, and gender nonconforming. At the fair, some of our officers had the opportunity to speak with leadership coaches as well as network with women in other student orgs.

McCallum High School:
Several of our members spoke with high schoolers from McCallum ISD on majoring in geology, being a student at UT, and adjusting to college. In a series of mentoring sessions, each with 20-30 high school students, we talked about our experiences in college and answered questions from students.

An Afternoon with the Girl Scouts:
We hosted a group elementary-aged Girl Scouts to teach them about geology and help them earn their Rocks and Minerals badge. Our members gave an overview presentation of what geology is about, toured the Vargas and Gem Mineral Lab, and held a mineral identification activity. We also made our own dinosaur tracks and pet rocks with the girls.

Explore UT : 
Explore UT is an event held annually on campus with the aim of informing students, parents, teachers, and community members about the importance of public research institutions and higher education learning. We helped the Jackson School by making pet rocks with the kids as well as manning The Vargas Gem and Mineral Collection and answering questions of the public.

Girl Day at UT Austin :
Girl day is an annual event hosted by the Women in Engineering program in which elementary and middle school girls come to UT to learn about careers in STEM. Their goal is for these girls to have fun exploring science with hands-on activities. We made index fossils with them out of clay, toy plants, and dinosaurs while teaching them how fossils are made.

Every year UT hosts kids from the Austin area to a day of trick or treating by providing candy and activities. We engaged with them by spending time with them and making pet rocks together.

We Are Girls Conference:
Girls Empowerment Network is an organization that seeks to inspire and empower girls to believe in themselves and give them valuable life skills. At the event, we helped girls write positive poems highlighting and affirming that they are valued, strong, and capable of achieving anything they set their minds to. 

Baldwin Elementary School

 

Baldwin Elementary School hosted GLOW volunteers on April 1st, 2016 to come teach two 4th grade class about dynamic Earth and its’ processes. We did a deformation experiment with sand and dirt to show how compression can create folds and thrust faults. Then had four stations composed of the grades of metamorphic rocks, sedimentary structures, fossils, and different depositional environments. The students enjoyed hands on exposure to multiple examples and access to current geology students from UT. Hopefully, we inspired a love for Earth and science!

 

 

 Austin Regional Science Fair

The Austin Regional Science Fair took place in the Austin Convention Center on February 19, 2015. Members of GLOW teamed up with the Austin Geological Society to judge the Earth and Planetary Science division, comprised of extraordinary projects by middle and high schoolers! 

 

 

Science Night at Murchison Elementary

Murchison Elementary School in Pflugerville hosted a Science Night on January 16th, 2014 to help kids explore the world of science. GLOW members set up a table to teach kids and parents about rocks and minerals, including where things come from and what they’re used for in our society. Hopefully we created some excited, young geoscientists!

 

Helping Hand Home for Children

The Helping Hand Home for Children is a residential care agency in Austin, Texas that provides a safe home for neglected and abused children. They provide abandoned children with a new home, school, and a supporting family. We visited the home to bring some exciting activities for the children and to teach them a little bit about earth sciences.

 

 

 

The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders

The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders is a private all girls school. They have visited the University of Texas at Austin every year and we have been giving them a small lecture with fun and educational activities for the past two years. The lecture and activity is related to geosciences with the intentions to spark their interest in the science. The activities that we have done in the past have been focused on hydrology, paleontology and general geology. We always look forward to seeing their exciting faces in the new year!

 

 

The following links contain fun science projects that you can complete with young children and adults:
L’Oreal USA For Girls In Science Website
Texas Memorial Museum Educational Resources