AFTER running in Blacktown in previous years, AWS Girls’ Tech Day in 2023 will be held for the first time in Campbelltown on November 22 at The Cube, for female school students in Years 3-12 to inspire their interest in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM).
AWS Girls’ Tech Day is a global initiative and was established in Australia in 2019 in collaboration with Inspiring the Future, a not-for-profit organisation, focused on broadening the minds of youth to assist them in making more informed career pathway decisions.
The AWS Girls’ Tech Day is an event that puts a much-needed spotlight on the need for more girls to pursue STEAM careers.
It pioneered as a free, half-day learning event that combined panel discussions with trailblazing women and interactive activities to expand awareness of future career possibilities. The program has now reached nearly 14,000 girls and young women, across 30 countries.
For this year’s event, approximately 400 primary school students & 400 secondary school students will participate in a variety of interactive, hands-on, fun activities designed to inspire them to pursue interests in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM).
They will also interact with a panel of female STEAM professionals to learn about future career options.
The event is complimentary to schools and coordinated transportation arranged by Inspiring the Future with the generous sponsorship of AWS in Communities.
Highlights of this year’s event, include: artificial intelligence machine learning, 3D sculpting, motion capture and animation game design, drive an underwater robot, robotic dog and self-driving cars, aerial firefighting simulator, drone obstacle course.
These activities are managed through collaborations with tech industry organisations, businesses and government departments, such as the Defence Force, Sydney Water, TAFE, Amazon, Neuranext AI Education, NECA and PwC.
Feedback from last year's event, by Deanna Ellick, Defence Force Recruiting,was:"The highlights for me have definitely been some of the questions we've received,a lot of the girls that are coming up to our stand say ‘I want to do this when I finish school’, or ‘I actually don't know what I want to do, but I know that I want to bein STEAM, what can you tell me about it?’ We've got different people here in different job roles, and have our Navy flight simulators here too, so the girls are able to go on those and have a bit of a fly over helicopter, and just have a bit of fun as well.”
Greg Warren, Member for Campbelltown and Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Early Learning and Parliamentary Secretary for Western Sydney said: “If we want more women in STEAM fields, we must engage girls early, show them the possibilities open to them in these fields, and help them get involved. AWS Girls’ Tech Day helps do just that – it gives girls the chance to explore coding, robotics,cloud computing, problem solving, and more, in exciting ways – expanding their skillsets and boundaries of what’s possible.”
To build upon the success of Girls’ Tech Day, AWS will begin expanding the program into a full-fledged Girls’ Tech Series of events designed to spark an interest in tech into a recurring series of engagements, such as STEAM clubs, competitions, and a speaker series, to help kindle that initial STEAM interest into a lifelong passion.
What previous attendees say:
“AWS Girls in Tech Day is not just about celebrating the achievements of girls studying tech today, but also nurturing the potential of the bright minds that will shape our future. By fostering diversity and inclusivity in the tech industry, we want to create a more innovative and equitable world for everyone. This event aims to inspire and empower the next generation of young women leaders to drive positive change and innovation.“ - said Michelle Hardie, Head of Professional Services in Australia and New Zealand, Amazon Web Services.
“I've always been interested in doing something in healthcare, but after hearing about other careers, I would really be interested in doing something like engineering, because just it sounds so cool.” - Latisha, High School Student
Girls’ Tech Day is part of a collection of programs developed by AWS In Communities to help create the next generation of creative thinkers and future builders in the communities where it has a physical presence.
AWS is in Western Sydney, with educational labs that provides students, educators, and communities with hands-on technical education and cloud computing training. For more details please visit: https://awsgirlstechdaysydney.splashthat.com/
Or contact https://inspiringthefuture.org.au
