Zero Robotics

When I was growing up, girls in my neck of the woods never got to do fun stuff.  They were discouraged from taking math and science classes and from having ambitions to be anything but nurses, secretaries, or teachers.   Now, I have nothing against those occupations.  I was a practicing nurse myself for 20 years, I wouldn't be where I am today without teachers, and I always say if you want to know something, ask the secretary (or administrative assistant now-a-days) because they know as much or more than the boss.

What I'm saying is that girls should have had the opportunity to be anything they wanted to be.  There shouldn't have been a limit on their talents, intelligence, ambitions, and contributions.  And the sad truth is that sometimes in the United States it hasn't got any better.  When I was in high school in 1968, I was one of 2 girls in the senior math class.  When I graduated from college in 1990 with a degree in math I was frequently the only woman in the math and computer classes.  That was 20 years ago and I really hope it's changed, but I still see a lot of young women who's only ambition is to have a baby and a boyfriend.   And that's OK with their mothers.

A lot of brain power is wasted by not encouraging girls to take advantage of their intelligence.

That's why I'm telling you about a competition called Zero Robotics Zero Robotics.  (Yes I got on my soap box before I got around to telling you about it, but "Girl Power" is a subject near and dear to my heart.)

"Zero Robotics is a student competition [run by MIT and NASA] that takes "arena robotics" to new heights, literally. The robots are miniature satellites called SPHERES, and the finals are aboard the International Space Station!"

This looks like so much fun, but I'll never know.  It's too late for me.  So I'm encouraging you to pass this information on to girls and boys in high school (but especially tell the girls).  Even if they don't participate in the competition it might inspire them to learn and enjoy more math and science. 

Send them here: http://zerorobotics.mit.edu/index.php/zr2011 for more information on the 2011 competition.  It may be too late for them to get involved in this year's competition, but if they start now they'll be ready for 2012!