Katie Dreeland isn’t 18 years old yet, but the Cienega High School senior is a role model.

A participant in the 2002 technology and engineering camp, sponsored by IBM Tucson, and a volunteer junior counselor ever since, Dreeland is offered by the camp’s organizers as the example of what the eight-year-old program can accomplish.

Offered each year to approximately 30 local middle school and junior high school students in Tucson and more than 1,700 girls from 11 to 13-years-old at 50 IBM locations around the world, the program, called EXITE n Exploring Interests in Technology and Engineering n is intended to keep young women interested in careers in science and technology.

Print this story Email this story Post a Comment ADVERTISEMENT

Since attending her first camp four years ago, Dreeland has taken advantage of the mentoring and academic and career support offered by IBM’s local employees, and now she’s preparing to graduate and attend college, where she plans to pursue a degree program in genetic engineering.

“Technology isn’t bits and bytes. It’s about problem solving,” said Terri Mtichell, IBM’s Tucson site general manager and vice president of the storage systems division. “We want to make sure our young women know that. We want them to have the role models and connections to look at technology as a tool they can use.”

Mitchell, a computer science graduate of LeMoyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., and a second generation IBM executive, said, “I grew up around technology and in an IBM town, but I still didn’t know a lot of women in technical roles.”

That’s still the case for too many girls, Mitchell said, and she wants to make sure this is something that isn’t overlooked.

“Studies still show that girls drop out of math and science at junior high school age. We hope, by exposing them to technology and giving them some success, they’ll gain in confidence and interest and consider these kind of careers,” she said.

After speaking to this year’s EXITE Camp participants, Mitchell said, “Some of these girls blow me away with their ideas and confidence in putting their ideas forward. I hope they do pursue careers in technology. We always need a workforce with their creativity.”

For Kathy Mitton, manager of systems testing and performance strategies for IBM, as well as a coordinator for the camp in Tucson, she said her five years participating in the annual event and associated mentoring programs has given her a sense that, whatever career the girls ultimately choose, they all benefit from exposure to science and technology.

Assigned to assemble small robotic devices and create claymation videos, among other activities, Mitton said, “They learn teamwork, creative problem-solving and even how to figure out how much them can do within a certain time frame.”

For the last several years, the camp participants have come from Flowing Wells Unified School District, where the faculty and administration has been active in promoting scientific and mathematical education for students in the underprivileged community, said Kimberly Babeu, a physical education teacher at Flowing Wells Junior High School and faculty advisor for the camp.

Babeu praised the IBM program as “a real trailblazer for our kids. The people here have put their money where their mouth is and put their time where their money is.”

For the school’s students, many of them from backgrounds without higher education, especially college, Babeu said the access to role models and mentors “means their grades are better and their interest in school is better for the rest of their school career.”

It also makes a difference for the participating students’ parents, “who are blown out of the water” to see what the children can do, she said. With that parental involvement and follow-up, the children “can set their sights high.”

As for Kari Evers, a student from Flowing Wells Junior Highs School, she said, “I was a little nervous about coming, but I love this. They keep you busy and it’s a lot of fun. It’s also definitely inspired me.”

The camp has motivated another Flowing Wells student, Brawley McCaslin.

“My sister went last year and told me so much about it, I wanted to come. I know now there are different options,” McCaslin said.

That’s the message that Dreeland said she’s carried with her. As a role model, she said she has given this year’s EXITE Camp participants one recommendation. “Take the opportunities presented to you and go with them. One thing leads to another and things open to you that you would never

have expected.”

Working in the University of Arizona’s genetics laboratory as it cooperates with IBM staff on a genographics project, she said, “The camp left me wanting to know more. I didn’t know anything about engineering, so my first question to my mentor was ‘What do you do?’ That has led to fantastic contacts and an insight into some fascinating careers.”

E-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Contact Philip S. Moore at pmoore@azbiz.com or at (520) 295-4238.

© 2006 Inside Tucson Business. All Rights Reserved