AUSTIN — While some kids are relaxing during their summer vacation, a group of Girl Scouts are using their free time to learn STEM.
"It's like we're learning at the same time that we're doing fun stuff, so it's like engaging,” said Girl Scout Sophia.
IBM is hosting a group of middle school girls for their EXITE Camp, which stands for exploring interests in technology and engineering.
They'll be doing STEM-related activates all week, and learning about hardware and software, as well as app design and development.
"I think it's just really cool to see how things work, like it's not just like, 'Oh, there's a TV.' I can actually see how the electronics inside it work, which is really cool," said Sophia.
"Maybe they're not going into engineering or STEM fields, but they can learn whatever they want, whether it's accounting, whether its environmental, any area,” said Nicole Nett, the chief engineer of power systems at the IBM group in Austin.
According to Nett, middle school can be the time when girls become less interested in math and science, so she hopes to show them that engineering is for everyone.
"For the girls, it's really gaining confidence, you know, they might not have any idea about engineering, but they come here, they see something they've never done before, but by the end of the camp they realize they can learn anything,” said Nett.
This week the girls will also learn about computer security, including safe passwords, and on the final day they'll learn to program a robot to make it dance.