Audience: Education, General |

Keywords: Girls in STEM, 21st century skills, mentoring, design thinking, OtterBox |

Outline, Main Points:

• Some aren’t old enough to drive, but already these Pretty Brainy teens are building their entrepreneurial and philanthropic credentials.

• Through a 15-week, 40-hour workshop that met Saturday mornings, the girls learned the design thinking and coding to prototype health and wellness solutions for their community.

• Thanks to the opportunity to pitch their designs in a shark tank-like experience, one young entrepreneur is pursuing a patent on her solution for tackling the spread of germs.

• During the 15-week experience the girls were mentored by young professionals from OtterBox and by Engineering majors at Colorado State University, all of whom are female.

• The girls gained the learning and opportunity to create their prototypes through a curriculum designed by Pretty Brainy. The mission of the Colorado-based nonprofit is to empower girls to gain an interdisciplinary blend of the science, tech, engineering, art, and math that students need to excel at 21st century skills.

Media Contact
Heidi A. Olinger
ideas@prettybrainy.com

Invent: Bee, Maria and Madeleine (l to r) designed and built prototypes to address health and wellness dilemmas facing their community. The girls, who are in high school, gained the experience in a Pretty Brainy workshop on code, social entrepreneurship and design thinking.

Invent: Bee, Maria and Madeleine (l to r) designed and built prototypes to address health and wellness dilemmas facing their community. The girls, who are in high school, gained the experience in a Pretty Brainy workshop on code, social entrepreneurship and design thinking.