Written By: Audrey T
Preparing for the Event
This isn’t the first event we’ve done with the Girl Scouts, meaning there was already a strong foundation for planning the event. Our main job was to prepare a presentation about our team and make sure we had enough activities to fill the timeframe. The Inclusivity subteam planned a variety of STEM challenges and crafts for the kids, including marshmallow towers, paper airplanes, snap circuits, and more!
The event was split into two groups, with the first group of the day being the younger girls and vice versa. This meant we had to plan for having materials ready and set aside for each group, as well as ensuring we had appropriate activities designed for each one.
Getting Started!
We started each group with a presentation about what our team did, what FIRST is, and we shared what our 2025 robot, Lefty, can do. They even got to watch Lefty in action! After our presentation, it was time to move on to activities. We divided everyone into three groups, which rotated through our stations.
Soaring, Flying
For our first station, we had paper airplanes! The scouts did two rounds. In the first round, they just made the best paper airplane they could. After they took those for a test flight, they were encouraged to improve them. For their second round, they were given more materials to work with, allowing for a more complicated design. They learned about how adding weight and changing the shape of the plane impacted how it flew! We even got a pigeon to try going for a ride; unfortunately, that run taught us about gravity.
Reaching New Heights!
While the paper airplanes were flying far, station two was building high! We had the scouts doing a classic STEM activity, marshmallow towers! They collaborated to build the tallest tower possible, trying to reach a height goal they had set earlier in the day. There was a large range of building techniques used, and we got to see some super impressive towers! As we got towards the end of the activity, they encountered the hardest challenge of all: not eating all of the marshmallows they had to build with.
Oh Snap!
Our last station was snap circuits! We had a team member volunteer their kit and knowledge to help us run this one. The scouts worked to learn all about circuit connections and make a ton of cool connections! They made noise machines, launched a couple propellors (we may or may not have had to recover some from the ceiling), and, a personal favorite, lit up the egg. It was super cool to see what you can make with just a couple of batteries and some connectors!
Thanks for Stopping By!
This event was super fun, not just for the scouts but for the team members running it as well! Everyone was super excited to try things out. We love giving back to our community and especially love it when we get to connect with the people we’re helping. We’d like to give a HUGE thank you to the troop leaders and Girl Scouts who made this event great!
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