Last month, several FIRST Girl Scout teams convened at regional tournaments for the FIRST Championship, a global robotics competition. The theme of hydrodynamics focused on ways to improve our use of water.
Check out how these innovators are stepping up to make the world a better place.
Brainiac Maniacs help solve lawn overwatering
The Brainiac Maniacs team from Girl Scouts of San Jacinto won first place at the FIRST LEGO League South Regional Championship in Katy, Texas. For their winning project, the girls took action on a real-world challenge—water conservation. Did you know most people overwater their lawn by 30 to 300 percent? That’s why this girl-led team created Water Wizard, an app that combines automatic and manual lawn-watering solutions to reduce overwatering and water waste. Their app has the potential to save more than 300,000 gallons of water a week per home. That’s enough to provide water to 140 homes!
Now the Brainiac Maniacs join 108 other winning teams (out of an initial 33,000 globally) that have moved on to compete in the FIRST Championship in Houston!
Team 6544 Green Machine takes action on the Flint water crisis
Team 6544 Green Machine takes action on the Flint water crisis
Team 6544 Green Machine from Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey took the lead on the contaminated water crisis in Flint, Michigan, with an idea that has earned them a place to compete in the FIRST Championship in Detroit. After researching ways to positively impact this public health issue, the girls created MUSA bag, a tea bag filled with dried banana peel chunks that can remove more than 90 percent of lead in water. Their low-cost solution has the potential to help Michigan’s state of emergency, making Flint a healthier place.
The Shark Divas invent ways to clean and conserve water
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From left to right: Girl Scouts Ayjah, LaDreme, and Jade |
Girls from Kell Robotics share their expertise
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Girl Scout Danielle |
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Girl Scout Mackenzie |
Alongside other team members, these go-getters developed the Strategic Teacher Initiative (STI), a proposal designed to train and place a technology, engineering, and computer science teacher in every K–12 school in the United States. The STI would also allow teachers to support the fourth industrial revolution and prepare students to become the technology and business leaders of tomorrow. The girls’ visionary project has earned them the Chairman’s Award (the highest honor in the FIRST Robotics Competition), recognizing the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate.
Girl Scouts are the engineers, scientists, and technology tinkerers of tomorrow, and programs like Girl Scouts and FIRST prepare them to pursue careers in STEM and provide the tools they need to make the world a better place. Learn more about our STEM program.