We have a number of outreach programs, as we mentioned. One is called Go ENG Girl and is a program for girls in grades 7 to 9. It introduces them to concepts of engineering. After we introduce them to these concepts, they do a hands-on activity. Some of these concepts that we've introduced are roller coaster design, computer science and programming skills, bridge-building and earthquake stability, just to name a few. These programs are presented at universities across Ontario. They're supported by the deans of engineering and Actua. They allow the girls an opportunity to be introduced to these concepts.
I'm an engineer, and I wasn't introduced to the word “engineer” before grade 11, so it's really important to get the word out there as to what they do and educate them on the role of engineers. Also, we bring in their parents, so this is also a key aspect. It's to educate the parents on what these careers might entail. For a portion of the day, the parents are with their girls and they're hearing talks about the roles of engineering and how their university career might go. Then the girls are separated from their parents, and the parents get a little bit more of a boring lecture and we do hands-on activities with the girls.
Another similar program we do is Girl Guide badge day. This is catching on across universities as well. Not every university does it, but we have implemented it for the past four years at Carleton. It's for girls in grades 4 to 8. Girl Guides is a national program, and the girls come to school with their troop leaders this time. We're also trying to expose different adults as well as different age groups of girls. Girl Guides has an engineering badge, so we go through what an engineer is, the different types of tools they might use, as well as hands-on activities that are taught by our volunteers in the STEM fields. We use that peer mentoring approach again, which gives a different view of what an engineer is and shows the girls a closer view, so they might think, “Oh, I can be doing this in a couple of years, and it's not that scary.”