[EWCP] Women of FIRST - All Girls Events

[Andrew Schreiber]

This EWCP Podcast is part of the Gender Diversity in FRC series. We'll be talking about the All-Girls off-season events, girlPOWER and Girl Generational invitational events, and the experience Falcon robotics had when they attended a regional as an all-girls team.

The cast will discuss these events and how girls can be given more opportunity to get involved with STEM.

Questions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...U80c3RPfY/edit


Sorry for the delay in posting this announcement, tried to do it earlier today with no luck.

Usual place, precast banter starting about 840 tonight. http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web...d=98466&cmd=tc

[Andrew Schreiber]

Chat Transcript.

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<Hallry1676> it's working for me
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<Guest 14> http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1883
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<Guest 6> Ive had that before, there should be some link somewhere along the lines of "having problems?"
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<SabreBytes772> almost missed it...
<schreiaj> That's why we record them 
<SabreBytes772> yea but it's better live, cause of the Chat 
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<Guest 12> https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151270010133126&set=a.86987133125.101067.86621463125&type=1&theater
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<sugarcube159> in all fairness, shouldn't there be a boys only event too?
<SabreBytes772> ^
<gregor_907> boys aren't the minority in engineering
<SabreBytes772> point is?
<Hallry1676> point is, most events are mostly boy events
<SabreBytes772> yea i know :P
This year there's 2 girls on my mech section of the team  out of 8
<schreiaj> My FTC team 60% female.
<Hallry1676> Currently, we have a team of 100, with one third being female
<schreiaj> Should I do one regional in which I only let the guys do something? They ARE a minority.
<SabreBytes772> HOW DO YOU MANAGE 100 PEOPLE!?!
<sugarcube159> yeah, thats humongous! mine has like 10...
<Hallry1676> organization. Lots and lots of organization 
<SabreBytes772> we have 35... and I dont know how to keep my mech people working...
<Hallry1676> We'll probably drop to around a costant 75-80 though
<SabreBytes772> still thats crazy!
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<Hallry1676> we're used to it. last year, once all the rookies joined and before any dropped, we had 120.
<Hallry1676> *and Brunswick Eruption for an offseason (you didn't mention it)
<SabreBytes772> wait how big is your school?
<Hallry1676> we are a district with two schools, about 2,000 kids altogether
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<SabreBytes772> oh wow, we probably have 1000 kids, 1 school. 45 ish people applied to the team this year
<Hallry1676> ahh, okay. That's still a good number.
<SabreBytes772> yea usually 25-30 but this year after we did so well last year, more people were attracted to the team.
<Hallry1676> awesome
<sugarcube159> in our fall season, theres a diversity event where the first half its all girls & halfway thru it switches to all boys. its pretty fun, just an idea
<Hallry1676> sounds cool
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<SabreBytes772> idk what I would do at an event if I wasn't aloud to Drive and work on the robot... or even be n the pit! 
Arizona is on the call
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<LizSmith> You could work on the field with me
<Hallry1676> or fix radios 
<sugarcube159> wall ball is my go-to distraction
<SabreBytes772> with field reset? ya that could work  lol
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<LizSmith> field reset... field robot fixing.. all sorts of stuff
<SabreBytes772> yea I would help with that 
<SabreBytes772> making buttons?!
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<SabreBytes772> aha you think the Judges would think your a better team cause you call yourself a Co-Ed team? Honest question. lol
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<sugarcube159> have you guys ever seen teams where the guys wear skirts to "empower" the girls? its an interesting approach...
<gregor_907> I've worn a grass skirt to an FLL competition... does that count?
<sugarcube159> haha sure, idk ive just seen it in a couple states so i was wondering if it was common
<SabreBytes772> I would ask for a link to it but.........
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<schreiaj> Sabre, a link to what?
<SabreBytes772> the picture of them packing
<schreiaj> mm gimme a second or two to find it
<schreiaj> if CD is up
<SabreBytes772> CD is down tho
<SabreBytes772> It's okay I'll find it later 
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<SabreBytes772> 45 memebers... ADVERTISE FIRST! 
<Guest 12> (Marina) haha yup, I have more marketing people under my wing than I know what to do with - but we're working with that
<SabreBytes772> yea, you'll find things for them to do. use the size to your advantage.
<aspiece> Or why do they have all Boys schools
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<Guest 12> press releases, business plan (it's kind of sad we don't have that yet, given our age...), the list goes on
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<SabreBytes772> all boy school's could be because it's private, and (sorry for the truth) the school wants to keep them seperated so that the guys arent distracted
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<aspiece> Not a problem at all.
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<SabreBytes772> girl school could be for the same reason, but not positive
<gregor_907> an effort should me made to involve more girls, but teams shouldn't be measured by the amount of girls on their team
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<schreiaj> ^ Absolutely
<aspiece> T3 recruits young PEOPLE! To be honest, I will admit to leaning towards recruiting girls.
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<SabreBytes772> I know 610 is private, anoyone know if its an all boys school? Gregor??
<gregor_907> Yes 610 is all boys
<gregor_907> school is single gender
<aspiece> From a recruiting perspective, I have noticed that when I recruit girls it brings an equal amount of girls and boys coming.
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<aspiece> 2012 T3 was 50/50!
<aspiece> 12 girls, 13 boys
<SabreBytes772> do the math.
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<aspiece> Yah well, close. LOL
<SabreBytes772> 52/48 
<aspiece> Find me half a student and I will take him/her
<SabreBytes772> gregor. 
<Ekcrbe68> Can I be 1.5 students?
<aspiece> LOL
<Guest 28> I was thinking the same
<SabreBytes772> wow theres a lot of T3s here...
<Kaaatie> 1675 was once 6 girls and 5 boys 
<JosephC_68> Only 3
<gregor_907> side note. CD is back up
<SabreBytes772> BTW CD is back
<aspiece> And we are all boys!
<Guest 28> Anddddddd everybody rushes to CD and crashes it again?
<SabreBytes772> yea?
<aspiece> We have a school STEM program that is almost 50/50. I am able to approach them or have them recruit themselves.
<aspiece> I agree about hesitation. Once they "get it" that goes away.
<SabreBytes772> yea Girls bring their friends and siblings on the team 
<aspiece> recruiting each other seems to work the best.
<SabreBytes772> actually that brings up a good point. a girl applied to our team this year for PR, and said she wanted to join Mech but has no experience 
<Guest 14> It seems like if you can get a few girls, they'll bring in their friends and that helps bring in more and more people
<aspiece> FIRST is a place to get experience.
<SabreBytes772> thats what we told her. she's also new to Canada and isn't good with english.
<aspiece> T3 does not have students apply for certain areas. They get exposed to everything before it is decided what area they will work in.
<Ekcrbe68> Probability would say interest in STEM (i.e. FIRST) should be 50/50. What we're trying to overcome is the societal masculine stigma of STEM
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<LizSmith> I started my team wanting to do animation, PR and stuff and learned mechanical, got into volunteering and now I FTA.
<Ekcrbe68> That causes the repulsion to STEM of girls
<SabreBytes772> we do it cause it's our team structure. you are free to ove, but we want people knowing their place on teh team, and not doing Business work when they
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<aspiece> Having Female mentors is key. Any mechanical females want to join T3~
<SabreBytes772> are supose to be doing mech work
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<Guest 12> (Marina) http://www.team1540.org/bunnybots shameless BunnyBots plug 
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<Guest 14> Actually having a female mentor is not necessarily key, but having a mentor that believes in you and encourages you (male or female) is very important
<SabreBytes772> yea males don't. I dont.
<aspiece> It is important that business and management team know what is going on in the shop too.
<aspiece> I agree with Guest 14
<aspiece> I should rephrase "We would love to get a femal mechanical engineer on our team" Anyone interested.
<aspiece> I think teams should be recruiting all students all the time.
<Guest 14> ^ I agree
<Guest 14> I think if a team feels they aren't giving females the opportunity to get involved with the team, then maybe specific marketing for girls is good
<aspiece> But students in marketing and business need to know what is going on every where on the team in order to put together winning awards and to manag
<aspiece> Having them in the shop some times is good.
<aspiece> Yes, recruit recruit recruit
<Guest 14> Absolutely! Judges for chairman's ask questions about the robot, it's important for everyone to know both sides of the team
<aspiece> develop them to be Leaders
<Guest 14> That way in the pit when questions are asked about recruitment everyone knows the answers
<aspiece> ^ yes
<aspiece> FEMA
<aspiece> I agree!
<SabreBytes772> I have to be honest. I hate when PR or Coms people are with the design part. They say the worst things... and dont' know what will work in the end.
<Ekcrbe68> Then teach them
<JosephC_68> True Aaron
<aspiece> Need to find a way to include the whole team.
<SabreBytes772> You can Not teach people the concept of Design nd ideas. its natural.
<Ekcrbe68> But they need to understand the principles behind a good design: building within your resources, simplicity, etc.
<Ekcrbe68> those can be taught, to some extent
<SabreBytes772> they have othr work to do with video's and promotion, rather than voting on design ideas, when they have no idea what they are voting on.
<Guest 6> we dont bite.
<Ekcrbe68> Why don't they have an idea?
<SabreBytes772> I dont notice someones a girl until I read there name/ i just assume its a guy... 
<JosephC_68> I feel like Aaron is saying that it is like having your Mechanical lead come Vote on the proper way to code the robot in the middle of build season.
<SabreBytes772> ^ exactly
<JosephC_68> When you don't necesarily have time to teach them all the concepts.
<SabreBytes772> but btw I do tell them some ways to program lol
<Ekcrbe68> There are 46 weeks to teach them
<SabreBytes772> they have other work to do.
<SabreBytes772> I have 46 weeks to teach 8 kids Solidworks, how to use a lathe/Mill etc, how to design and other stuff. I dont have time to etach others on my team to
<SabreBytes772> learn/
<Guest 6> "this has already been answered"
<gregor_907> As easy as it it say "teach everyone everything," this would be ridiculously hard to implement.
<Guest 6> "learn to use the search"
<gregor_907> I come from a team of about 20 students, so role already overlap quite a bit. But with the massive amount of things needed to be done in an FRC team
<gregor_907> not everyone can know everything
<Ekcrbe68> No, you don't have to do that, but I was saying don't tell someone "Go back to business" during a design meeting.
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<SabreBytes772> then the blind would be leading the blind...
<Ekcrbe68> If tehy want to know, that's okay
<gregor_907> Don't tell them to go back to business, but they also shouldn't have a vote in a mechanical matter

[rachelholladay]

I didn't get a chance to listen live, but I really enjoyed listening to the recording. In particular I wasn't aware of what Falcon Robotics did (by sending only girls to a regional) and I found that section really, really interesting.

Thanks for hosting this discussion!

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by rachelholladay

I didn't get a chance to listen live, but I really enjoyed listening to the recording. In particular I wasn't aware of what Falcon Robotics did (by sending only girls to a regional) and I found that section really, really interesting.

Thanks for hosting this discussion!

Rachel,

Here is a photo about the event along with a thread discussion. The thread is a good read and you will find similar comments in the thread that match some of the comments in the EWCP discussion.

If you don't have time to read the entire thread, skip to the last page and read posts #84 and #86. They are illuminating.

Here is a second photo/discussion about another all girls experience that Falcon Robotics decided to have. If I may express an opinion here, Falcon Robotics never seems to be too interested in conforming to a mold - they are interested in breaking it... and they succeed, oftentimes.

It would be interesting to know how many girls and women were actively participating in the EWCP discussion. Seems like there were lots of guys commenting...

Jane

[rsisk]

EWCPCast doesn't count listeners by gender because it's not really their purpose to target one audience or the other. We hope to inspire all by offering topics that are interesting to everyone. We are thrilled to have Renee and Katie producing this series of podcasts and hope that everyone gets a chance to listen live,or to the recording on iTunes, or to particate in the chat or follow up discussion on Chief.

I got to listen to the cast today and enjoyed it. Nice to see the broad range of topics the casts are tackling.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by rsisk

EWCPCast doesn't count listeners by gender because it's not really their purpose to target one audience or the other. We hope to inspire all by offering topics that are interesting to everyone. We are thrilled to have Renee and Katie producing this series of podcasts and hope that everyone gets a chance to listen live,or to the recording on iTunes, or to particate in the chat or follow up discussion on Chief.

I got to listen to the cast today and enjoyed it. Nice to see the broad range of topics the casts are tackling.

Understood. It's kind of a 'build it and they will come' kind of thing. It will be nice to see more active participation consistently.

Jane

[Renee Becker-Blau]

Hi Jane, thanks for pulling out the links to the Falcon Robotics threads!

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

It would be interesting to know how many girls and women were actively participating in the EWCP discussion. Seems like there were lots of guys commenting...

Jane

I think that we didn't have as many people on the cast in general since we were late posting on Chief Delphi about it. I'm hoping that people will listen to the cast and bring additional discussion here if they have questions!

Our next cast will be on Sunday, November 11th and we'll do a better job at letting people know about it in advance!

Thanks,

Renee

[rachelholladay]

Thank you Jane Young, for pointing more towards the original picture. That made for quite a read..

Renee, will the 11 November podcast also be about Gender Diversity (as part of on-going focus)?

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by rachelholladay

Thank you Jane Young, for pointing more towards the original picture. That made for quite a read..

Renee, will the 11 November podcast also be about Gender Diversity (as part of on-going focus)?

Yes, the Nov 11th cast will be about f(EM)ale Rockstars of FIRST.