Perry Meridian High School in Indianapolis was the site of robotics competition with a difference recently — the competitors were all female.
The first IndyRAGE, which stands for Robotics All Girls Event, did allow boys, but they were restricted to working in the pits. The teams driving the robots were required to be girls only.
The event was an off-season competition for FIRST Robotics teams. FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”, and it seeks to inspire young people worldwide to enter STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields.
Cyber Blue Robotics, the team at Perry Meridian, hosted IndyRAGE, with the idea of encouraging girls who are part of robotics teams to take on more leadership roles within their organizations. The young women of the Cyber Blue Robotics team competed in a similar all-girls contest last fall in Michigan, and brought the idea home to Indianapolis.
Liz Bremer, who was one of the Cyber Blue competitors, said she thought many girls do not believe they can lead a team. Events like this one therefore help girls understand they can step up and take a leadership position.
Event coordinators might work with brochure printers to create a booklet describing the girls' participation. They could make the booklet available to school career counselors with the idea of having them encourage young women to consider STEM careers.
