In TechREACH you have your own style and your own community. And in your community, you’re allowed to do whatever you want as long as it’s productive. In school if you don’t do it EXACTLY the way the teacher tells you, you get in trouble for it and you’re not there to have fun and your grade goes down. [In TechREACH] there’s no grade. You’re not here strictly just to learn-- you’re here to be part of something.”
–TechREACH participant

TechREACH mentor training session.

Press Release

September 24, 2003

TechREACH Seeks Mentors for Girls' Technology Program
BOTHELL, WA
Puget Sound Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology (PSCTLT) is looking for mentors for TechREACH, an after-school technology club for low-income, at-risk girls. TechREACH is funded by a Gates Foundation grant and represents a collaboration among PSCTLT, area schools, parents, communities, business, and higher education.


techREACH logo"In general, girls lag behind boys in their skills in science, mathematics, engineering and technology, " said Karen Peterson, Director of Diversity in Technology at PSCTLT. "And while U.S. labor statistics indicate that nearly 75 percent of tomorrow's jobs will require use of computers, fewer than 33 percent of participants in computer-related courses and activities are girls. TechREACH is designed to close this gender gap by offering middle-school girls a hands-on quality curriculum, real-world projects, and mentoring by skilled, caring role models."


In 2003 through 2004, TechREACH will serve approximately 120 middle-school girls from Puget Sound area schools including Seattle, Edmonds, Everett, Highline, Mukilteo, Renton and Fife. Program instructors will work with the girls on-site at their schools. The role of mentors will be to communicate and encourage students, primarily through weekly exchanges of e-mail. Mentors also will be encouraged to participate in three or four TechREACH activities such as field trips, job shadows and social events. The estimated time commitment for each mentor is one to three hours per week from October to June, and a four to eight-month commitment is requested.


"We are looking for female mentors who work in science, technology, engineering or a math-related field," Peterson said. "We need women who are good listeners and can help teach the girls about good communication as they offer them encouragement and friendship."


Puget Sound Center is a private, non-profit information and communications technology training organization located in the Canyon Park Business Center in Bothell.

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