Power SET

In conjunction with Dr. Valerie Segovia and the Nuclear Power Institute at Texas A&M University, Palacios High School principal Stephanie Garcia and teacher Leslie Gerberman sponsor POWER SET – Powerful Opportunities for Women Eager and Ready in Science, Engineering, and Technology. This program equips high-achieving female high school students with the tools, encouragement, and mentoring needed to pursue educational and career opportunities related to STEM. As part of the program, the older students in POWER SET mentor 33 Palacios ISD fourth, fifth, and sixth grade girls who participate in Power GRID (Girls Responding to Industry Demand), helping to ignite in them an interest in school and STEM fields.

Recently, the younger Power GRID students participated in an Afternoon of Engineering and Mentoring with their POWER SET mentors. In addition to Skyping with a Texas A&M computer science student about her major and future career in the defense industry, the Power GRID girls also engaged in a variety of engineering-based activities. They learned basic Java programming taught by POWER SET members (who had previously learned these skills in their Computer Science classes) and played guessing and information-collecting games using introductory coding. The Power GRID students also used engineering and problem solving skills to see who could build the tallest tower using only the verbal descriptions of their fellow team members’ architectural drawings.

Having learned many of these activities during college and industry visits over the years, the POWER SET mentors developed the day’s activities to engage the younger Power GRID students’ imaginations and problem-solving skills. The event was a great success that brought together both groups of girls for a time of fun, learning and working toward their dreams. #IAmTXEd  Palacios ISD