[Jon Stratis]

As a male mentor working with an all girls team for the past 5 years (the Robettes, I think we've been mentioned a few times in this thread already ), I wanted to share my perspective on this subject.

First, lets talk about the pits. I challenge everyone here to walk around the pits at their next regional a few times and count the numbers of males and females actually working on the robot. You'll find a huge gender bias, and the reasons for that have already been outlined in this thread: Boys have more experience growing up, and naturally tend to take over, pushing girls out of the way. It can be a real eye opener to see a pit that has all girls working on the robot.

Next, lets talk about the Robettes. Every year we have close to 25 students. We currently have 3 male mentors from Boston Scientific and two female teachers working with the team. While we've had female mentors from Boston Scientific with the team in the past, when the team was first formed the students made a conscious decision to encourage female mentors to work with other teams instead - that way, those females could provide direct inspiration in male-dominated teams.

Our team structure has evolved over the years, but one thing is certain - our students come with practically no experience, and leave being able to design and build a robot. When I say no experience, I mean none. Some of them have never even used a drill before. How do you compare a student, regardless of gender, with that level of experience with one who grew up building tool boxes and bird houses in Boy Scouts? With one that learned first hand some basic engineering principles in designing and building a PineWood Derby car? There really is no comparison. Those students coming in with experience quite simply will take over.

Finally, I wanted to share some stories the team has been collecting. These stories show exactly what sort of impact an all-girls team can have, not only on its members, but on the wider community.

This first one comes from a Second grader who saw our team compete last year.

I like the Robettes and I think what they are doing is cool. I go to their website a lot. I like looking at the pictures of what they are building. Last year my dad, he is a medical engineer at HCMC, took me and my sister to see the Robettes compete. I really liked the soccer game and the area where they did the building. I like building things. I build a lot of things at my house. When I was little, like five or six, I thought building things was boyish. When I saw the Robettes I just changed my mind.

This next one comes from one of the founding students of the team, and really highlights what this experience provides for the students.

Being a part of The Robettes opened my eyes to my future. I always knew that my passion was with math and science, but I had no outlets for it at my high school, until we started the Robettes. There are many parts of my experiences as a part of the Robettes that I value greatly and I can say with confidence that would not be where I am today without them. The Robettes gave me the tools I needed to understand where I wanted to go in life. I was inspired by my fellow teammates, the other students I met at competition, but most importantly my mentors. I had never known any engineers before my involvement with the Robettes and my mentors gave me so much insight and guidance in deciding where to go to college and what major to pursue. However, I feel that the most important thing our mentors did for my team was to make us, an all-girls team, feel empowered and more than capable to enter a competition that was mostly male-dominated. I never felt intimidated, inferior, or less intelligent. This is something that has transpired into my college career in classes heavily dominated by males. I can see that my experiences with the Robettes have really put me ahead of the game in this sense--I see other girls in my class who lose sight of themselves or don't speak up because the classes are predominately male and taught by male professors. I have never felt overshadowed or afraid to ask a question or give an answer in class. I don't think I would have felt this way if it wasn't for my time with The Robettes. I cannot express how much the Robettes and FIRST have inspired me--I have so much love and respect for the program and I am so proud to say that I was once a part of it.

This final one is from a current member's grandmother, and really helps to highlight the type of gender bias the team is working against.

My granddaughter is a member of the Robettes. I grew up in the era (1950’s) where women who attended college could be teachers or nurses. These were the only career paths offered to women. I choose business administration and to major in finance and accounting. I was the only woman in most of my classes for 4 years and I actually had professors ask why I was taking classes in those majors. I am thrilled to see a program that offers girls a chance to compete in a science and technological fields, to make it possible for them to aspire to careers in math, science and engineering, something unheard of in my day Our country cannot realize it’s true potential when 50% of the students (women) are left out of the most promising fields of advancement. The rallying cry of “you go, girl” needs to be shouted the loudest for these girls to compete at the highest level . I am thrilled that my granddaughter is one of them.

If your at the North Star regional later this week, stop by our pits to read all of the stories we've collected so far!