AUSTIN, Texas —
Thousands of young girls from Central Texas and across the state went to the University of Texas at Austin campus on Saturday for the annual STEM Girl Day.
There were about 8,500 girls, grades kindergarten through eighth grade, from different schools, Girl Scout Troops and other organizations.
They explored math and science subjects. UT had activities and experiments for the girls to get hands-on experience.
They did things like make bath bombs, create things with paint and build little boats that could hold golf balls.
Tricia Berry, UT's executive director for Women in STEM, said it's important for girls to see what they are capable of.
"If you can do it, if you play with it, if you feel that sense of accomplishment of making something and have seen something that you get to put together and solve that problem yourself, it helps you understand, 'I can do this. I could be a scientist, I can be an engineer because I'm doing that right now in activities like we're doing today at STEM Girl Day,'" Berry said.
As the UT educators and volunteers showed off their work and research to the next generation of female scientists, Berry said she hopes this event shows the girls what's possible in the STEM field.