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Girls will explore the UA and myriad career opportunities at MISS Adventures Camp.

By Lori Stiles, University Communications
July 24, 2009

They may be only 10-to-13 years old, but more than 30 girls will be at The University of Arizona next Monday, July 27, to train with FBI professionals to solve crimes.

They may think the FBI operates in the real word like it does on TV in “CSI,” but they’ll find out it doesn’t quite work that way when they gather forensic evidence for “crimes” that will take place in five rooms of the UA’s Steward Observatory.

The girls will be back on campus Tuesday to identify space rocks, cook up comets, view the sun through filtered solar telescopes, see how the world’s biggest telescope mirrors are made at the UA Steward Observatory Mirror Lab and attend a business lunch with women professionals in a variety of careers.

On Wednesday they’ll peer at high-tech materials through microscopes, take photos of themselves with people and in places across campus for a scavenger hunt and run experiments that disclose common environmental hazards in homes and neighborhoods. 

On Friday they’ll see how UA harvests rainwater in the desert, then wrap up their week’s experience in a multimedia presentation they’ll share with their families and friends at an ice cream social Friday night.

The activities are part of the July 26 – 31 "MISS Adventures Camp” run by Raytheon in partnership with the UA and Sonora Environmental Research Institute, Inc., a local non-profit environmental firm.

The “MISS” in the camp’s name is short for “Math, Information Systems and Science.”

The campers come from schools in the Sunnyside Unified School District, where teachers and principals identified them as interested in math and science.  The girls apply to come to camp through written applications and face-to-face interviews, both to excite them about the camp and give them practice at skills they’ll need in the future.
 
“We want the girls to realize that they can be whatever they want to be, they can do whatever they want, that there are no careers closed to women interested in science and math,” said Rosemary Badian of Raytheon. “The main message is that they can go to college and succeed, that they can accomplish whatever they want to in life.”

Badian and Karen Christensen of Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson co-developed the MISS Adventures camp four years ago. UA’s Eller College has partnered with Raytheon in running camps in previous years. UA’s College of Science has joined with Raytheon to run this year’s camp. UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and Facilities Management, as well as Steward Observatory, are active in this year's camp.

Holding the camp at the UA so the girls can explore and become comfortable with the University campus is an important part of the program, Badian said.

Campers will use digital still and movie cameras and blog throughout camp activities. They’ll upload the content to a server, and they’ll be able to access the blog after camp,  Badian said. It will be a way to keep in touch and share their educational successes long after camp is over.