SCIENCE LAB DAY AND HOW YOU CAN RUN EVENTS TO PROMOTE INCLUSIVITY

Hello FIRST Ladies readers!

We are FRC Team 8717 Cyber Vipers from Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the past we have made many contributions to help support Women In STEM, but this year we have accomplished an incredibly notable event. 

Science Lab Day 
This month we partnered with our school's lead Chemistry Teacher, Ms. Blockovich, to hold a science day where students can participate in fun labs. We started this initiative with hopes to give more girls within our school a chance to participate in STEM based activities without the pressure a classroom environment introduces! 

Our school's chemistry teacher has always been willing to help out with women in STEAM events and to promote inclusion. Last month, she was featured on our school's news program during Women's History Month where she was interviewed on how women can promote equality and what she thinks are some of the most important issues that women currently face. We are incredibly grateful to have a teacher within our school that cares so much about helping make STEAM a more inclusive and accessible environment.

Why are events like these important?
Although these kinds of events may seem small, hosting events within your school or community like this can start a snowball effect that begins to bring awareness to the importance of promoting a more inclusive environment. 
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How can you run events like these?​
Events never have to be run alone. It is always incredibly beneficial to get help from organizations or community leaders within your school, community, or other teams. Start by forming contact and establishing a relationship, prioritize an in person introduction to introduce yourself, your team and FIRST! Then, always make sure to send a follow up email reminding them of what was discussed, sharing any necessary resources such as your team contacts or business plan, and sending them a full plan of the event(s) you plan to run with them. Make sure you are both in agreement on the dates, times, location and substance of the event! As the event approaches make sure to work out the last few kinks and send reminder emails. The last thing is to finally run the event. Don't forget to document by taking photos, keeping track of how many people joined, and how this impacted those that participated!

Team LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/cybervipers8717
Instagram: www.instagram.com/frc_8717_cybervipers/
Team Website: ​sites.google.com/view/cyber-vipers/home?authuser=0

Submitted by Cyber Vipers, FRC Team 8717
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