Review TechWomen program information regarding coronavirus (COVID-19).

TechWomenTechWomen

TechWomen is an Initiative of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs

  • Home
  • Program
    • Overview
    • 2022 Action Plans
    • Professional Development
    • Cultural Exchange
    • Delegation Trips
    • Impact
    • TechWomen Covid-19 Program Information
  • Participants
    • Eligibility and Application
    • The Experience
    • Award Details
    • 2022 Emerging Leader Profiles
  • Mentors
    • Why Mentor With TechWomen?
    • Professional Mentor Overview
    • Cultural Mentor Overview
    • Impact Coach Overview
    • TechWomen Mentor Application
  • Get Involved
    • Host an Emerging Leader
    • Host an Event
    • Other Ways to Get Involved
    • Host companies and partners
  • About Us
    • Who We Are
    • Our Team
    • Program Countries
    • Connect
  • FAQ
    • General
    • Participants
    • Mentors
  • Blog
  • Log In

Sierra Leone Day 6: a new generation of leaders

March 16, 2019 By TechWomen Leave a Comment

“What I’m here to tell you is there’s a place for you. There is a problem that your mind can help solve.”

The final day of the delegation trip began at St. Edwards Primary School, where fellows and mentors saw the work of the 2016 seed grant-winning initiative Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – Kids Can Do It Better (3Rs for Kids). The initiative’s goal is to increase environmental awareness through waste management education programs in local schools. By providing educational materials and leveraging community partners like the Freetown City Council, the group has already implemented their program in three schools. “We have so much passion,” Salwa Campbell shared with the delegates.

As fellows and mentors waited on school grounds for the day to begin, students began to trickle in, taking interest in the big group. Soon, mentors were showing young students video games on their phones, playing soccer and even having a foot race before the school day started. Once the students arrived, administration gathered them outside, inviting the fellows and leaders of 3Rs for Kids to the front. The fellows led the entire school in a song they had taught them about disposing of waste responsibly. The students recited the song from memory, singing the lyrics, “reduce, reuse, recycle,” and showing delegates what they had learned about caring for the environment.

Hands-on STEM day

The delegation trip’s final activity was an afternoon of hands-on STEM activities with young women from schools throughout Freetown. Fellows kicked off the afternoon speaking about their careers, telling the students about their jobs in engineering, geology, medicine and IT.  As the fellows explained how careers in STEM fields can open doors to possibility and opportunity, their presentation slides behind them were proof: they showed the fellows in the field in hard hats, working on complex computer systems and in lab coats in their office.

After, Impact Coach Caitlin Doyle addressed the group of nearly 100 girls, explaining that the job she has now as an engineering program manager wasn’t something she’d ever heard of at their age. “I started relentlessly studying,” she said, “and always asked engineers to explain their jobs to me. I found technical websites. I read free online resources.”

After the motivating speeches, it was time to begin the hands-on motherboard workshop. Led by mentor Tina Shakour and fellow Umu Kamara, the workshop focused on the fundamentals of basic computing. In groups, the students were tasked with finding the CPU, battery, transistors and memory cards.


After exploring the motherboards, the students transitioned into the next breakout sessions prepared for the day. Mentors and fellows separated into different classrooms throughout the school, leading interactive workshops that used easily accessible and inexpensive materials. In the breakout sessions, mentors and fellows taught about energy by making pinwheel wind turbines, used LEGOs to demonstrate principles of programming and taught coding by teaching students to sew their names in binary on a loom. In the coding workshop led by Jessica Dickinson Goodman and Soniya Goyal, they explained how binary is a human-made language, showing the students how anyone can translate English into binary. Students were then provided the correct binary for the alphabet along with thread, learning to spell their names using 0s and 1s.


After the breakout sessions, primary school students were led by mentor Shalaka Prabhune, who spoke about the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling and tasking them with using creative solutions to address waste management issues. First, students wrote stories about the 3Rs – reduce, reuse recycle – and presented them in front of the group, communicating the importance of respecting the environment. After, students were given building sets and asked to come up with inventions that can address the 3Rs. One group created a machine with long arms that swims into the ocean to gather trash: “I encourage all of us here not to throw our garbage on the floor,” the group leader said. “We are all on this planet.”

Mentors Molly Glauberman and Jill Finlayson guided the second group of secondary school students in a session on design thinking and brainstorming, asking them to choose an issue their community faces and present on how they propose to solve it. After their brainstorming sessions, the students presented their ideas to the entire group of attendees. One group, zeroing in on a region that is particularly affected by sanitation issues, proposed a program that educates the public on dysentery and disease from waste materials. Another group outlined a plan to leverage government-led programs and provide trash bins for every community and school in the region. Schools, they proposed, could designate one day per month a cleaning day where students come together to clean trash around the area.


At the end of the day, as students cleaned the room and threw away their own trash, one student asked for the microphone, sharing what she’d learned during the hands-on STEM activities. “Today gave us the courage to lift up our voices in society,” she said. 

A bittersweet farewell

At the farewell dinner, the group gathered to close out an incredible week of collaboration and impact. They were there to celebrate not just individual contributions, but also a greater TechWomen community – a network that had expanded and strengthened through each session, activity and interaction. After a week where inspiration was at every corner, it was clear that with each fellow’s ingenuity, dedication and unwavering commitment to changing their communities, the future of women and girls in Sierra Leone is bright.


Follow the hashtag #twsl on Twitter for more content from the TechWomen delegation trip to Sierra Leone!

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Email

Filed Under: 2018 Program, Alumnae, Cultural Exchange, Delegation Trips, Entrepreneurship, Girls Education, IIE, Impact, Mentoring Girls, Mentorship, Professional Development, STEM, Sub-Saharan Africa, Uncategorized

Speak Your Mind Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 895 other subscribers

Recent Posts

  • 10 Years Later: A Letter to TechWomen
  • TechWomen Pitch Day: A Room Full of Ideas
  • Why is the TechWomen fellowship a remarkable experience?
  • Fellow Lindiwe Matlali is on a Mission to Help Youths Innovate Themselves out of Poverty
  • Weeks Four and Five: Final 10 days of TechWomen Fall 2022 Conclude with Historic Events and Expansion Announcements

Categories

  • 2012 Program
  • 2013 Program
  • 2014 Program
  • 2015 Program
  • 2016 Program
  • 2017 Program
  • 2018 Program
  • 2019 Program
  • 2020 Program
  • 2022 (Fall) Program
  • 2022 program
  • Alumnae
  • Announcements
  • Application Tips
  • Central Asia
  • Conferences
  • Cultural Exchange
  • Delegation Trips
  • Emerging Leader Voices
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Girls Education
  • IIE
  • Impact
  • Lean In
  • Mentor Application
  • Mentoring Girls
  • Mentorship
  • Middle East and North Africa
  • Partnerships
  • Professional Development
  • Scholarship
  • Seed Grant
  • Solar Power
  • STEM
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Technology
  • Uncategorized
  • Washington, D.C.

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011

Tags

2013 program 2014 program 2015 program Africa Algeria Alumnae application careers central asia Community cultural exchange Cultural Mentor delegation trips Education Egypt emerging leaders emerging women leaders Empowerment Entrepreneurship guest post impact Jordan kazakhstan Leadership MENA Mentees Mentor Mentors mentorship Middle East Morocco nigeria Rwanda San Francisco Silicon Valley State Department STEM technology TechWomen TechWomen Alumni Tunisia U.S. Department of State Women women in tech womenintech

Blogroll

  • DipNote
  • E-Mediat
  • Fulbright mtvU Fellows
  • Fulbright Student Program
  • Gilman Program
  • Ibrahim Leadership and Dialogue Project Blog
  • IIE Opening Minds
  • Parallel Earth
  • TechGirls
  • Women’s Enterprise for Sustainability

CONTACT US | MEDIA | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | Sitemap
Copyright © 2023 TechWomen | Site by MIGHTYminnow

   

Copyright © 2023 · TechWomen on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...