Coming to a close

Saturday April 21, 2012 Marielle Kouassi

In the beginning many of the girls were ready to make friends, but didn’t know if the others felt the same. Although this was the case in the beginning the G.O-G.I.R.L.S have become closer and comfortable around each other. By participating in group activities together, coming up with research topics and ideas their friendships will hopefully last. In the morning the G.O-G.I.R.L.S continued to come up with their routine for their group performance. Every group (out of six) was required to come up with a cheer/dance routine to introduce their group for who they were. Although a few weren’t dancers they all collectively came together to make up exciting routines. After their routines were complete they began to work on their PowerPoint presentations. During the graduation ceremony the girls will be able to display their research and the results from their surveys. While showing their results they will explain to the audience why and how they conducted their research.

What the future holds

Saturday April 7, 2012 Marielle Kouassi

While many students in college are still deciding if they will major in A or B, G.O-G.I.R.L.S get an advantage over them. In the morning the girls ventured out to the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Wayne State University to learn and explore. While the girls were at the College, they were exposed to many activities and projects that students in the college perform every day. When they first arrived they were split into their groups while doing the same activities, but at different times. The girls first went to the lab to test a fake urine sample. While testing the girls were able to use the same equipment the pharmacist use in their field. Then the girls went upstairs to make arts and crafts including: small pillows, bracelets, and more. All of these activities were put into place so that girls could test their strength. The strength test dealt with the physical therapy aspect of the college. After the tests they watched a video about the jobs of physical therapists. The video included how to become a physical therapist, how they interact with their patients, and the great advantages of being a physical therapist. After the video they went through a few physical therapy tests to show how they work with their patients; taught by students in the College. After the day was over the girls were left with knowledge about pharmacy and physical therapy.

GO-GIRL 2012 Week 4

Saturday, March 3rd, 2012
Week 4

Today the Go-Girls ventured out to the Undergraduate Library. When they arrived they were split up into their groups, but all learned the same information. The first presenter started off by asking a few questions about their knowledge in PowerPoint and later gave feedback. They were then all sent a PowerPoint by using their knowledge in how PowerPoint’s should actually look.

The next presenter talked about citing information, adding graphics, and taught them how to evaluate websites. She gave them a list of things they should look for when evaluating and telling whether the site is legitimate or not. This list includes: accuracy, currency, relevancy, authority, being biased or not, domains, and advertising. After learning the ins and outs of websites they were all given a website to see if it was real or fake.

To end off the day at the library their last presenter talked about a website called Mel.org (Michigan e Library) where many data bases are. These data bases are there so you can research on basically any topic. The data bases bring up articles, sites, and more.

GO-GIRL 2012 Week 3

Go-Girls –Saturday, February 4th, 2012

As the girls arrived to the College of Education on the campus of Wayne State many activities were coming their way. To get to know each other they broke up into their assigned groups and began to discuss what they like. To find this information out they compared characteristics such as what they wear, hair color, eye color, hobbies, favorite foods, color, subjects, and more. The girls then went over Classroom Rules so that all activities can go as accordingly.

Using the Venn-Diagram method and Bar Graphs they analyzed data dealing with texting, cellular devices, favorite food, favorite music genre, sports, whether or not they would be watching the Super Bowl and more. After the analyzing data was complete the girls stayed in the groups they were in the beginning and came up with group names and a group cheer they would perform at the graduation ceremony.

As lunch approached the girls headed towards the Student Center to eat Subway in a large group. After lunch the girls completed an online survey about how their experiences so far at Wayne State is going.

“I think this program is a great program for girls. Especially since it is on Saturdays and most girls don’t have anything to do. You can definitely learn something,” said Group 3 member Kaila Searcy.

G^3 Nano - GO-GIRLs Go Nano

Saturday, May 14th, 2011

We here at GO-GIRL are excited to have just held a really cool event under our latest initiative, Operation Keeping in Touch (KiT). The purpose of this new addition to the GO-GIRL program was to provide more opportunities for GO-GIRLs and their parents to investigate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) topics and careers.

This event was hosted by the Wayne State University Chemistry department. During this all day workshop, GO-GIRLs explored how very, very, small devices can be used to solve BIG medical, computational, and energy problems. Girls made their own nanomaterials and discovered ways these materials can be used to help make the world a better place. The day included a pizza & salad lunch, a chance to reconnect with friends, and opportunities to work (almost entirely 1-on-1) with current WSU students and faculty in their chemistry laboratories. The day rounded up with a final game of Nano BINGO, testing the girls' knowledge gained throughout the course of the day, complete with prizes!

In the morning, parents joined us for some community learning as well. In the WSU Undergraduate Library (UGL) some of our wonderful library science folks showed us the ins and outs of MEL.org and how to navigate this wonderful online resource. This is a great tool for parents and students alike! Then, our fabulous representative from the WSU Office of Admissions, Sylvia, held a Parent Café revolved around our GO-GIRLs of all ages and their pursuit for college. Some key themes were scholarships, social networking as a way of sharing information about the college application process, and timelines for applying to college.

Overall, our GO-GIRL staff and volunteers were so pleased with the turn out and the enthusiasm and engagement of our GO-GIRLs and their parents. We hope y'all feel the same!

GO-GIRL Winter 2011 Graduation (part III)

GO-GIRL Winter 2011 Graduation (part II)

GO-GIRL Winter 2011 Graduation

More GO-GIRL Winter 2011 Project Presentation Photos

GO-GIRL Winter 2011 Project Presentation Photos

GO-GIRL 2011 Day 10

Saturday, April 16th, 2011

A fabulous day for our Winter 2011 GO-GIRL Graduation!

Our amazing GO-GIRLs presented their awesome survey presentations to family and friends in the morning, showcasing their bright minds and brilliant analyzation and presentation skills! Prior, parents attended one last Parent Café session and learned more about college admissions and particularly, what Wayne State University looks for in prospective students. It's never to early to start thinking about college! After the girls presented their team projects, we all walked over to the WSU Student Center for a delicious luncheon catered by Slow's BBQ. Wayne County Commissioner made an appearance to present the GGs with their GG Graduation certificates. We've included photos of each group receiving their diplomas.

Please do keep in touch with us and we will be sure to do the same! This has been a truly wonderful semester of GO-GIRL and we are forever indebted to our many GO-GIRLs, their super parents, family, friends, and our supporters-thank you from the bottom of our hearts! :)

GO-GIRL 2011 Day 9

Saturday, April 9th, 2011

Here we are on Day 9! Phew! We've come a lo-o-o-ong way and now we're finally putting together all of the concepts we've discussed this semester. We're analyzing our data as we speak, taking a look at our results from our online surveys and drawing conclusions. Some of us are finding that our research results match our hypotheses while some of our hypotheses have been proven wrong, but we are all learning! It's quite tiring doing all of this thinking on a Saturday so we're going to need a refreshing lunch break soon-we're going to have pizza, salad and pop-it should do the trick in helping us finish out the afternoon putting together our Power Point presentations of our results and findings. These are the presentations that we will wrap up today, and in the morning of next week's Graduation day, that we will showcase to our friends and family. We're so excited to examine and contemplate our findings and share them with everyone next week!

The information about next weekend's final day of GO-GIRL, our Graduation Ceremony, is below:

Gaining Options – Girls Investigate Real Life™
Project Presentation and Graduation
Winter 2011

Date: April 16th, 2011
Location: Wayne State University

Schedule of Events

9:00 – 9:20 Girls arrive, prepare for final presentations
9:30 – 11:00 Parent Café- Room 10 College of Education
11:00 – 11:30 Presentation of Final Projects
1st Floor College of Education Building
11:45 - 1:30 GO-GIRL Luncheon and Graduation
2nd Floor Ballroom Student Center Building

PLEASE NOTE: Due to limited seating, there is a 2-guest limit for each GO-GIRL

Questions? Please call the GO-GIRL Hot Line at 313-577-0917 or Email us at: gogirl@wayne.edu

We look forward to seeing you there! :)

GO-GIRL 2011 Day 8

Saturday, April 2nd, 2011

Well, we are winding down our GO-GIRL semester now. This morning was spent exploring data collection. We reviewed different types of graphs and questioned which type of graph may be the best for our individual survey projects. We also refreshed our memory on mean, median, mode, and percent count. We're working up to compiling our data into a final Power Point project that we'll begin organizing next week. Lunch was spent at the Towers Dorms, a favorite for us all because it is served buffet style so we get our own choice for lunch! Then, last but very far from least, we went on a WSU Campus Road Rally. It was like a treasure hunt that led us all around the campus searching for clues as we took photos at each answer location. The Road Rally was a great opportunity to explore campus and get to see the different types of buildings on campus. We always thought the campus was so big and confusing but now we have a good grasp on what it's actually like! We're looking forward to coming back next week to complete our research projects! :)

Go-GIRL 2011 Day 7

Saturday, March 26th, 2011

Today was our long awaited trip to the WSU College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

Each group of GGs had a pharmacy student lead them around the building. Each 5 sessions that the GGs attended exposed the girls to different fields in the health sciences.

In the Occupational Therapy (OT) session the girls made a bracelet or key-chain and tested how strong their fingers and hands are by squeezing a mechanism as hard as they could. Then they learned the average strength of girls their age. They learned why OT is important and why people do it.

In the Physical Therapy (PT) session, they learned about different exercises that they could do to work different parts of the body to improve their strength. They also watched a video about the different places that they could practice PT such as at schools with veterans.

In the Pharmacy the GGs learned what pharmacists do and they toured the CVS laboratory. They saw how drugs are prescribed and approximately how many different types of drugs there are currently on the market.

In the Analyzing session they practiced testing urine (actually Mountain Dew in this case), and they learned how to use test strips that test for diabetes. Here they got a chance to wear lab coats and lab goggles and learn about lab safety procedures.

Lastly, in the Physician Assistant (PA) session, the GGs learned what PAs do and they practiced their knowledge on a sample case about a man who didn't know what was causing him to have certain symptoms. After learning the symptoms of a stroke, the GGs were able to diagnose this man. They also heard a real heartbeat in order to monitor heart rate and use a stethoscope.

In each workshop there was a real doctor and WSU students studying those respected professions to assist the GGs in their learning.

Just a reminder: GO-GIRL will be meeting at its usual time on Saturday, April 2nd: 9:30am-3:00pm in the College of Education.

Please note that the street/metered parking on WSU's campus is free on the weekends.

We're looking forward to seeing everyone again this weekend! :)

Pharmacy this week!

GO-GIRLs and Parents,

* REMINDER *

This Saturday, March 26th, GO-GIRL will meet at the Wayne State University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Please drop off your daughter at the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences between 9:00-9:20 am. Pick-up will be in front of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at 3:00 pm.
The field trip is always a highlight of the GO-GIRL session. To find out more about the College visit their website at: http://cphs.wayne.edu/

Directions:
Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is located at 259 Mack Avenue, Detroit, the southwest corner of the Detroit Medical Center Campus.
The College is on the corner of Mack Avenue and John R St.

From I-75 North
Exit at Mack Avenue and take right on Mack Avenue.
Turn at the third traffic light (John R. Street).

From I-75 South
Exit at Mack Avenue and take left on Mack Avenue.
Turn at the third traffic light (John R. Street)

From I-94
Exit at 75 South (towards Toledo, OH).
Exit at Mack Avenue and take right on Mack Avenue.
Turn at the third traffic light (John R. Street).

From Main Campus
Go South on Anthony Wayne Drive, Cass Avenue, or Woodward and turn left on to Warren Avenue
Turn right on to John R. Street.

GO-GIRL will resume as normal at the College of Education on April 2.

Please email us at gogirl@wayne.edu or call us at (313)577-0917 or (313)530-3308 (the Saturday GO-GIRL Hotline) with any questions and/or concerns!

Go-GIRL 2011 Day 6

Saturday, March 12th, 2011

A super busy day as we all scrambled to wrap up our GO-GIRL surveys! We all contributed to writing the survey questions and typing them into the InspireData program, the program we're using to publish the surveys to the web! It was stressful trying to get them all in before lunch but we all managed to have them complete by the end of the day, phew! The information for taking the surveys is below:

GO-GIRL Surveys

Instructions:
Go to http://esurvey.inspiredata.com
Enter the Survey ID # and take the survey!

Teams:

C.R.A.Z.Y. (Creative, Real, Active, Zany, Young) Awesome Ladies
ID# 993022
Pretty Girl Swag
ID# 951360
BCM (Beautiful Classy Misses)
ID# 477419
P3 (Pretty, Powerful, Pre-Teens)
ID# 610413
DGAO (Diverse Girls As One)
ID# 583556
Scientists With Style
ID# 336141
Pink Saturdays
ID# 960985

After we wrapped up our surveys and worked on our team posters and cheers, we headed over to the WSU Mort Harris Fitness and Recreation Center which is right nearby the College of Education on the WSU campus. There we had Little Caesar's pizza, salad, cookies, and pop. Then we were able to run around and play! Some of us played basketball, there was also a volleyball game, we could walk on the track, hula hoop, or play any number of other activities and games. Mostly we would run around and play until we were hungry or tired and then we'd chat before running around and playing some more, it was so fun!

Reminder: Rec Center next week!

Dear GO-GIRLs and Parents,

Just a reminder that this Saturday we'll be spending the afternoon in the WSU Mort Harris Fitness & Recreation Center. Please remember to wear your GO-GIRL t-shirts and gym shoes. We're sure to have a fun afternoon of playing volleyball and other games! See you then!

GO-GIRL 2011 Day 5

Saturday, March 5th

Another Saturday of plugging away at our research projects! We accomplished so much today in our teams as we formulated questions to ask in our surveys which will be ready next week!

Meanwhile, our parents attended a Parent Café where they discussed other opportunities for us. They discussed other extracurricular academic programs as well as what college admissions offices are looking for. They always have our best interests in mind!

The parents also made a chain of strengths similar to the one we made. Their strong characteristics and qualities they listed included, but are not limited to: caring & compassionate, passionate about kids success, supportive, involved, leadership, focused, determined, super mom, computer skills, hard-working, driven, encouraging, problem-solving, willing to learn, flexible, structured, patient, make time, understanding, loving, easy to talk to, trustworthy, creative & crafty, motivational/motivated, fair, advocator, wanting to help, excited, resourceful, helpful, and so much more!

We're so thankful for all of the amazing and inspirational GO-GIRLs and their families this semester! :)

Reminder: GO-GIRL resumes tomorrow!

Friday, March 4th, 2011

This is just a reminder that we WILL be resuming as normal tomorrow, Saturday, March 5th. We're looking forward to seeing you back this week!

In addition, we will be holding another Parent Café from 9:30-11:00 am in the College of Education, Room #253. The topic of this Parent Café is "Programs and Resources." We will discuss how you and your daughter can more efficiently use library resources at home and online. We will be joined by a librarian from the WSU Undergraduate Library who will help us navigate through a wonderful online library resource available to all residents in Michigan. We will also talk about some summer programs and other opportunities for your daughter. We do hope you'll all be able to join us!

See you tomorrow!

GO-GIRL 2011 Day 4

Saturday, February 19, 2011

This was a great day for learning about research! Our GO-GIRLs had an action-packed morning spent in our Wayne State University Undergraduate Library (commonly known around these parts as the UGL). Here, our amazing librarian friends used their computer labs and extensive knowledge to show us some great ways to research online. We now know what can be considered good vs. bad research. We got a great introduction to MeL, the Michigan eLibrary website that has boundless information of all sorts and is open to all of us as residents! By just visiting mel.org, we have an entire world of databases and online resources available to us-this is a great place to visit for our school projects! Even parents will find it easy to use ;) Then we stopped by the Towers Dormitory for a true college-style buffet lunch. We could have anything from veggie pizza, to chicken strips & french fries, the salad bar and soft serve ice cream...it was awesome! Then our afternoon was spent in our teams back in the College of Ed. working on our research project surveys. We're gradually working on refining our topics and questions, we can't wait to share our surveys with all of our family and friends so keep an eye out for them soon!

We'll miss our week off of GO-GIRL as we take a break next weekend, February 26th, but we'll look forward to picking up where we left off the following Saturday, March 5th. There's a Parent Cafe on March 5th as well so we hope that all our parents can join us as well :)