Most young girls living in the Five Points neighborhood, an African-American and Mexican-American community in downtown Denver, have grown up with the idea that a job means working at McDonald's, serving as a waitress or janitor, selling in a retail store, or accepting other low-paid work.
That notion is something Margaret Eisenhart, professor of educational anthropology and research methodology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, is trying to change.
"We want to show these girls that they can harbor more ambitious career goals, which can be achieved by pursuing interests in science and technology," said Eisenhart.
With support from the CU-Boulder Outreach Committee, the Colorado Women's Foundation, and the Rose Community Foundation, Eisenhart set up "Simply the Best," a community-based after-school science and technology class in December 1999. The goals of the program are to cultivate an interest in science among minority girls and provide them with training in basic and sophisticated technology skills to increase their ability to succeed in school, and to succeed economically after they complete their education.
Participants in "Simply the Best" are girls in seventh through 12th grade, most of whom live in the Five Points neighborhood. The program offers three sets of after-school science and technology classes for girls.
Classes for African American middle school girls meet from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, classes for middle school Latinas meet from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, and high school girls, both African-American and Latina, meet on Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m.
The curriculum is designed especially for girls in minority communities and gives them experience with some of the science and computer skills that lead to high-paying jobs. Class activities include designing T-shirts, studying animals, surveying residents, developing Web pages, making multimedia presentations and doing homework.
In addition to providing instruction in technology and science, adults in the program also aim to develop close mentoring relationships with the girls and to have a positive influence on their peer culture.
"Most girls in our program had heard of the University of Colorado. But before joining our program, none of them had ever visited the CU campus or knew much about what it takes to get into college. To them, attending college was simply a remote and irrelevant issue," said Eisenhart.
To broaden the students' vision and create a bond between them and the university, Eisenhart sponsored a trip to the CU campus earlier this year for students in the program, who got a chance to talk to university professors, students and admission staff. Trips also have been organized to visit women scientists and engineers at places like NCAR and Lucent Technologies.
"We want to introduce students to people like them who are scientists, engineers, and computer specialists, in hopes that these role models will help the girls to see that they, too, can succeed in high-tech fields," said Eisenhart.
The efforts from Eisenhart and her colleagues have paid off. None of the students have quit the program since they joined a year ago. And many of them have improved their school work and are more willing to talk about academic and career goals than before.
"Simply the Best" is only one of the several outreach projects conducted by CU-Boulder's School of Education in Denver's Five Points Neighborhood. Other projects include community-based literacy for elementary students, performance-arts for middle school students, and school reform at Manual High School.