Emily Prenovault, a science undergraduate student focusing on micro/biology has been a WISE Kid-Netic instructor since Spring 2018 and has led over 330 workshops in 97 different schools. She has visited Thompson, Dauphin, The Pas, Steinbach, as well as many First Nations communities during her time as an instructor.

Emily has made a lot of memories during her time with WISE, but for her, the greatest reward was returning to a class that she had previously visited a year earlier when she first started as an instructor.

“Last year I was in Wanipigow and I had the opportunity to work with the same kids this year. Coming back a year later and seeing the changes in them and seeing how much they had grown and the fact that they remembered me was very rewarding. It’s always bittersweet when you leave a school or town because you don’t know if you’ll ever see them again but getting to reconnect with this class was really great. It was a really special week.”

Her time with WISE has not only allowed her to share her love for science with school-aged youth in the Province but has also helped her to grow on a personal and professional level.

“Working with WISE has given me a unique opportunity to share my love of science with children, inspire young girls to pursue careers in STEM, all while traveling around Manitoba. I have made amazing friends, traveled to places I would never have gone to otherwise and the skills I have developed from this job will definitely be relevant and beneficial for my future career in health care.”

As Emily prepares to say goodbye to WISE and move on to further studies, she will forever remember her time as an instructor and introducing youth to STEM whom otherwise may not have been exposed to such opportunities. The rewards of being an instructor are not just seeing kids interact with STEM, but rather the collective growth in both the youth and the instructors.

WISE is currently accepting applications for Fall/Winter Workshop Instructors. For more information or to apply, please visit: http://www.wisekidneticenergy.ca/employment/

The deadline to apply is October 14, 2019.

While the girls worked in the atrium, Dr. Marcia Friesen (P.Eng) hosted a parent information session along with 5th year bio-systems (co-op) student, Rhianna-Lynn Holter-Ferguson; Dawn Nedohin-Macek (P.Eng) from Manitoba Hydro; Carolyn Geddert (P.Eng) for the Faculty of Engineering; and Lesley McFarlane (P.Eng) from the Government of Manitoba. Parents learned about why engineers are vital to our society and the steps their daughters would need to take to join the faculty.

Go ENG Girl is an event hosted by WISE Kid-Netic Energy, which is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) out-reach not-for-profit. This year WISE- Kid-Netic will engage over 35,000 youth in the province of Manitoba through workshops, clubs, camps, and events. Their next event for girls in grades 7-9 is Go Code Girl on February 9, 2019, at Maples Collegiate. For more information, or to register, please visit: www.wisekidneticenergy.ca/go-code-girl

You can follow WISE Kid-Netic Energy on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

WISE Kid-Netic Energy is a community outreach program specializing in science and engineering content. As the largest outreach program at the University of Manitoba, they reach 25,000-35,000 youth annually through workshops, campus, clubs, and special events – Make Your Move being one shining example.

The Make Your Move event brought together female grade 8 students, with female engineers as team mentors. Students were nominated by their school divisions as girls who had shown qualities of leadership and interest in science topics, but who had not necessarily placed engineering on their radar. Team mentors, many of them University of Manitoba Faculty of Engineering and WISE Kid-Netic Energy alumni, were women industry leaders with expertise spanning many engineering disciplines.  The team of mentors and students then embarked on an engineering design challenge.

Make Your Move was also a place for students to learn practical information about the engineering profession and to gain exposure to real world engineering problems. This year’s challenge was to build an assistive device to aid in extending a person’s reach and ability to grip, carry, and release objects.  “I learned the types of engineering, and what engineers do. I also learned that engineers help people a lot more than I thought.”, noted one of the students who attended the event. Her thoughts were echoed by one of the mentors, who said “I loved how the design activity showed a different side of engineering (it’s not just about trains, planes, bridges, and automobiles)!”

The event was energetic, with a race to a communal supply ‘buffet’, a surging time limit, and prizes adding impulse to the challenge – all set to the beats of an in-house DJ and running commentary from MC Nesta Matthews. The competitive element, though, came secondary to the atmosphere of teamwork and reciprocity that the event encouraged. Participants said they appreciated being in a space where they felt comfortable voicing their ideas, and working together with their group on a problem. “I liked how everyone was so empowering and positive, and how we supported each other. It was also so cool to see such a diverse group of individuals work together… Our mentors were fun and encouraging and very creative.” remarked one of the student participants.

Teams were sponsored by leading engineering industry members in Manitoba: Price Industries, Standard Aero, Boeing, New Flyer, MacDon, Magellan, Stantec, Emergent Biosolutions, Hatch, Manitoba Hydro, RTDS, KGS Group, FWS Group, Dillon Consulting, NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering, Engineering Access Program, Red River College, and the University of Manitoba Faculty of Engineering all contributed to the students’ learning about engineering in the real world.

In a field where less than 20% of newly registered engineers in Manitoba each year are women, events like these aim to create momentum towards a future where a greater diversity of individuals are valued and can thrive in engineering.

After Make Your Move’s fifth year in 2018, participants from the first iteration of the event are now of the age where they may be starting to enter university. As the Faculty of Engineering continues its growth in diversity, WISE Kid-Netic energy is proud to be one contributing piece of this change.

Learn the fundamentals of software coding and experience the building blocks of hardware in this exciting  hands-on introduction to computer science.

WHO: Girls in Grades 7-9

WHEN: July 18 – 20 or Aug 1-3

WHERE: University of Manitoba Fort Garry campus in the Engineering Information Technology Complex

COST: $125

Registration is available online at http://www.wisekidneticenergy.ca/codemakers-all-girls-camp/

^{WISE Kid-Netic Energy is proud to be participating in Codemakers, a national program powered by Actua and Google. Actua’s network members at post-secondary institutions across Canada will empower 100,000 youth with critical computer science skills and prepare them for their future roles as innovators in technology. www.actua.ca/codemakers}

The All-Girls Robot Fight Club is run on Saturday afternoons by WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) Kid-Netic Energy and spans from January 21 until March 11. The club is open to middle and high school girls, and this year the participants included girls from Grade 6 to 12.  The goal of this program is to teach logic and programming in a practical application and setting, and does not require any prior programming knowledge on the participant’s behalf. Each student has access to a LEGO Mindstorms kit, from which they can create customizable and programmable robots to perform tasks such as navigating a maze, following a line, or delivering a payload. These are only some of the tasks that are tested in the LEGO challenge, which attempts to simulate a “hospital” setting, with busy hallways and multiple rooms where the robot will have to autonomously make deliveries and watch out for obstacles.

The girls in the club are coached by two University of Manitoba students, Jenica Woitowicz and Valorie Platero. Jenica is a 2^nd year computer science major, and hopes someday to work in an area that incorporates artistry and technical knowledge. Valorie is a 4^th year electrical engineering student focusing on engineering physics, who is also part of the University of Manitoba Space Applications and Technology Society (UMSATS). The program’s supervisor, Michelle Carriere, is a recruitment and outreach officer for the Engineering Access Program (ENGAP) and WISE Kid-Netic Energy, and is also a robot nerd who has experience competing in the Manitoba Robot Games.

The main objective of the All-Girls Robot Fight Club, and all other programs by WISE Kid-Netic Energy, is to encourage and support girls and other under representative peoples to gain access to more opportunities in STEM. They seek to shatter the traditional views that science and engineering are predominantly male fields, and strives to help girls enjoy and excel in them. WISE Kid-Netic Energy also gives remote schools access to programs and workshops that are otherwise not available to them. In the end, the mandate of the organization is to create a brighter future for youth by recognizing the importance of equal opportunities in STEM fields.