20 Girls, One Goal – SMA Girls Camp

The Girls Camp was initiated by the Hessen Ministry of Economics and the Federal Employment Agency in order to give girls between the ages of 14 and 16 a chance to learn more about careers in technical fields.
It gives girls a glimpse into the various training options in the fields of mathematics, computer science, the natural sciences and technology. This is intended to help them make their future career choice.

The Plan

Immediately following the welcoming words given by the trainers, the 20 participants were divided into four groups and sent to different workshops where they enthusiastically got started working on building their „girls lamp“. At SMA, the girls made their way through four stations over the course of four days. First the medal workshop, then the electronics workshop and on to the programming and electrotechnical departments. Both technical and commercial trainees from different years and groups supported the girls and helped them build their lamps. My colleague and I took time on Tuesday to visit the girls at their work stations and get a feel for how things were going. I got to talking with Paul, a trainee becoming an electrician for industrial technology. „The girls are doing a fantastic job,“ he reported, „they're even doing better than the boys.“ The girls were highly concentrated and very busy soldering on their circuit boards, but you could tell right away they were enjoying it.

The Culmination

I had a look at the almost completed lamps on Thursday afternoon. „It worked really well I think,“ reported one of the participants, Paulina Schulze, „just that the soldering was a little complicated, but the trainees explained things really well and it was no problem at the end.“ The girls finished up by mounting the lamps but were sweating to get things done on time. On Friday, they were given lots of tips on how to apply to become a trainee and received useful information about careers in the field from the Federal Employment Agency. That afternoon, the closing events took place, to which the girls' parents were also invited. They were naturally allowed to keep the lamps they had made as well as the SMA t-shirts they had been given. From 20 participants, five girls found the field to be very interesting and could imagine taking part in the training program and having a career in the field.

Free Time at Girls Camp

In the afternoons and evenings, sports and relaxation activities served as entertainment. The girls could choose between climbing, aerobics or a wellness evening. The wide range of activities was a big hit with he girls and even after long days of hard work, they were excited to spend the evening together. In short: an exciting week and first glimpse into a possible future career come to a successful close.