Saturday, February 16th

Saturday, February 16th, 2013 - Day 3 of GO-GIRL Winter Semester 2013 :)

























Today was Day 3 in the classroom and our first of three Parent Cafés for the semester! The Parent Cafés inform parents about what their daughters are doing in GO-GIRL. Plus, it gives parents the opportunity to network with each other.




Today, the GO-GIRLs took a look at ethics in relation to research. After a short presentation by their mentors, the girls had to fill out a worksheet about ethical dilemmas and point out what might be wrong. They learned that in order to have a good survey, you need to be considerate of your participants and be honest. In small groups, the students discussed why they believed each dilemma from the worksheet was or was not ethical. The goal for this activity was to show the students why others take surveys and to learn how to make a good survey. This is very important because each group will be conducting their own research throughout the semester.




Later, the GO-GIRLs grabbed laptops to work with the software, Inspire Data. They used Inspire Data to practice making their own surveys. For lunch, the GO-GIRLs and mentors enjoyed a variety of options at the WSU Towers Dorm dining hall. After lunch, the girls did an icebreaker and explored different characteristics about themselves.




We have Saturday, February 23rd off for a break, but we look forward to seeing everyone bright-eyed and bushy-tailed back for another day of GO-GIRL this Saturday, March 2nd!




We will be meeting at the College of Education for our regularly planned GO-GIRL hours of 9:30 am to 2:30 pm. The girls will then be walking over to our WSU Undergraduate Library where our wonderful Library Science staff will be talking to the girls about best practice researching, conducting responsible internet research, and so much more! They will show the girls some valuable sites to do research on the web and discuss some of the do's and don't's to contemporary internet research. The Library Science staff is excellent and this is sure to be a fun and knowledgeable morning for the girls! :)

GO-GIRL Parent Café #1

Saturday, February 16th, 2013

We are pleased to have had about 40 parents of current GO-GIRLs join us this morning at our 1st in a series of 3 Parent Cafés. Dr. Sally and the parents discussed their girls, misconceptions of who an engineer is, the GG curriculum, Inspire Data, and more! Great questions and comments! :)

Saturday, February 9th, 2013

Saturday, February 9th, 2013

Today was Day Two for GO-GIRL in the classroom! The girls learned all about surveys and the different ways to conduct a survey. The first activity was to brainstrom about what surveys are, who takes surveys, and when they are used. Many girls spoke about surveys they took on social websites. Each group came up with their own research topic that they will be investigating (and presenting) at the end of the semester. The GO-GIRLs proposed a topic they would like to ask questions about and then had to vote from the top 3 topics.

Also, the girls in Groups 2 and 6 had a lot of fun during their team building activity, each team formed a chain, or a "worm," and the head of the chains (the first person) had to try and catch the tail of the chains (the last person) without breaking the link between the group members. It was a lot of fun and the girls really enjoyed it! Group 2 won ;)

The students enjoyed lunch in the College of Education, bonding over warm pizza, salad, dessert, and pop! After lunch, the girls split into groups and were assigned a computer and explored the program "Inspire Data." This program helps students to organize and interpret information and data that they will collect from the surveys they will be creating over the next few weeks. It will be exciting to see what all of the groups come up with for their survey questions and what the data from them will show!

A Stellar 1st day of GO-GIRL!

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013

Well, we are off and running! Just looking at the girls in their groups by the end of the day today, you would never know that they were perfect strangers this morning.

The day was spent getting to know one another and the mentors.  What better way to do get to know one another than to play icebreakers!

One of the icebreakers was called, "Honey if you love me, will you please smile for me?" In this exercise, all of the students stood in a circle while one student went to someone she hoped she could make smile (the point of the game being not to smile, but that was near impossible for everyone-the giggles were contagious!). If the participant smiled, the smiler (then "it") would continue to ask someone else this question and hope that the next person would smile. This activity broke the ice between girls who were not to familiar with each other and were out of their comfort zone. It was a very easy-going first day that helped the girls get comfortable with everyone and their new environment. By the end of the day, the girls went from being strangers to forming long-term friendships! The laughing and giggling was heard from every classroom throughout the day as more games and icebreakers ensued.

Also, the girls learned about graphs and how to analyze and interpret them, which will come in handy later in the semester as the girls will be researching a topic, administering surveys, and analyzing data. At noon, the girls enjoyed a buffet-style lunch in the Towers dorm dining hall. After lunch, the girls went back to their classrooms, paired up with a partner and were given a Macbook. They used the computers to take an online survey regarding futures careers and other interesting topics.

Finally, the girls came up with team names for their groups. We're proud to present our GO-GIRL groups for the Winter 2013 semester:

Group 1 (Mentors Becky & Taylor): Queen Bee Yellow Jackets
Group 2 (Mentors Macy & Radha): Invincible Investigators
Group 3 (Mentors Jodi & Mary): TTYL (Talented Team of Young Ladies)
Group 4 (Mentors Fayzha & La'Shana): FBI Girls (Fabulous, Beautiful, Intelligent)
Group 5 (Mentors Nina & Sarah): SM&ART (Science, Math, and Art)
Group 6 (Mentors Melissa & Terrel): H4 (High Heels High Hopes)

Looking forward to our 2nd day! :)

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! :)