The mission of Cool Girls Science and Art Club is to engage young girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) so they have the desire, confidence and skills to sustain their contributions to the community throughout their personal, academic and professional journeys.
The club was founded in 2008 by a group of 8-year-olds who love inquiry-based, hands-on learning about STEAM.
Cool Girls are at the apex of the power pyramid: Each semester these first- through fifth-graders select and evaluate what they want to learn with mentors' help. All contributions are tax-deductible.
Cool Girls Science and Art Club is proud to be the Convening Organization of the Colorado Collaborative for Girls in STEM and a part of the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP). Major funding comes from the National Science Foundation.
Cool Girls became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2010. No child is turned away for financial reasons. We need your help to keep the program going and to reach other girls.
Become a Cool Friend of Cool Girls today! Contact Mary Golden, Director, to volunteer or learn more about becoming a sponsor.
We are very grateful for the financial support of the NGCP, the Noyce Foundation, the Irving Foundation, LCC Consulting, Life + Tech Law, the Longmont Community Foundation, individual donors, and all the time and passion donated by mentors. And to teachers Renee Cerny and Erin Maxwell for sharing their classrooms at Crest View Elementary School in Boulder, CO.
           
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Cool Girls Science and Art Club Board Members for 2012 are:
Michelle Christenson, parent, engineer, mentor, Curriculum Committee, Logistics Director; Dr. Lauren Costantini, neuro-
scientist and biotech consultant, mentor, Fundraising Committee Business Outreach Co-Chair; Joelle Friedman, parent, wellness coach, chef extraordinaire, Fundraising Com-
mittee; Augusta Garrison, parent, biotech scientist, mentor, Curriculum Committee; Mary Golden, grandparent, science editor , mentor, Director; Shannon Golden-Schubert, parent, life sciences & technology attorney, Treasurer, Fund-
raising Committee Business Outreach Co-Chair; Kate Hartman, high school science teacher, mentor, Recorder, Curricuum Committee; Karen Kehn, parent, software engineer; Annette Kissinger, parent of CG alum-
na, yoga teacher, fundraiser host extraordinaire; Cindy Noel, artist, mentor, Curriculum Commit-
tee, Art Director; Egbe Osamwonyi, parent of CG alumna, engineer; Julie Poppen, parent, writer and CU journalism instructor, mentor, interim Chair, Communications Director and Editor of newsletter, website and social media.COOL GIRLS IS SEARCHING FOR BOARD MEMBERS AND EXPERIENCED VOLUNTEERS TO SERVE AS CHAIR, TREASURER, NEWSLETTER EDITOR, and ASSISTANT DIRECTOR. CONTACT: coolgirls.scienceart [at] gmail.com | 
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May 2012
Dear Friends of Cool Girls,
It's hard to believe we're wrapping up another year or school and, of course, Cool Girls. Thank you for supporting this one-of-a-kind girl-led after-school club, which strives to build self-confidence as girls explore science, technology, engineering, the arts and math in various fun combinations with the help of fantastic community mentors. Don't forget to "like" us on Facebook to get updates on CG summer classes and field trips, fall events, interesting stories and opportunities related to STEM and girls, and to upload and download photos for us all to enjoy.
Julie Poppen, Communications Director
and Mary Golden, Director
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Cool Girls Goes to Washington
 Cool Girls is the convening organization on behalf of the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) for the new Colorado Collaborative for Girls in STEM (CoCoSTEM). Our director, Mary Golden, co-chairs CoCoSTEM with Dr. Patty Quinones, principal of Longmont's Skyline High School, which has both a STEM Academy and a Performing Arts Academy. Mary, Patty and two members of the CoCoSTEM Leadership Team, Dr. Stacey Forsyth (director of CU's Science Discovery), and Kathy Rigsby (director of the Equity Assistance Center at Metro College in Denver) attended the NGCP Institute training for new collaboratives, the NGCP national conference, and the USA Science & Engineering Festival in April.
The Institute brought together teams from several regions to meet with national leaders to learn how to collaborate with each other as we provide professional development opportunities and mini-grants (funded by the National Science Foundation) to other groups in our respective states that are working to bring more girls into STEM. The CoCoSTEM Leadership Team and Champions Board will hold a kickoff meeting in the fall, most likely in Denver, to spread the word and begin sharing resources.
The main focus at the national conference was on diversity: How to bring more under-served girls into STEM.
During the past 10 years, the NGCP has served more than 5 million girls through its regional collaboratives. Cool Girls is honored to have been chosen as the lead organization in Colorado.
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Cool Girls Needed as Mentors in Red Oak Park
 Cool Girls will offer a free summer program in the community center of one of Boulder's newest and coolest affordable housing communities called Red Oak Park near Valmont and 26th. Current Cool Girls are invited to participate and to mentor girls in this community each week. The program runs from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Tuesdays, June 19-August 7. If your daughter is interested, please sign up for all or some of the sessions asap by emailing Mary. Four of the nine sessions will be led by women who are CU graduate students in astronomy, thanks to the leadership of Julia Kamenetsky, M.A. |
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Evaluation Plans in the Works
Dr. Margaret Eisenhart, Distinguished Professor of educational  anthropology and research methodology at CU-Boulder, and Elle Dominski, CU's Director of Diversity, have generously agreed to lead CG in developing an evaluation plan for our program. Evaluation is essential to improving our curriculum as well as to attracting funding. We know Cool Girls works from all the anecdotes we hear from alumni and their families...now we just need to document it. Thank you, Margaret and Elle!
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What's Coming Up : Field Trips
- The weekend of August 18-19, we will visit CU's Mountain Research Station near Nederland to learn about the environment and the sky. Reserve your space now by e-mailing Mary. The lodge has only 32 bunks at $25 per person.
- We don't have a date yet but stay tuned for a CG & family field trip to Denver to visit the Denver Museum of Art and the Clyfford Still Museum. Contact Michelle if you can drive or for more information.
- We are also considering a nature journaling (observation, recording, drawing) activity, and a trip to Dinosaur Ridge and to the USGS earthquake monitoring center, in addition to the scheduled stargazing party and overnight field trip to the CU Mountain Research Station described above on August 18-19. Please contact Michelle or Mary to learn more and to volunteer. Watch for e-mails regarding these fun events.
- With school starting up again on Aug. 15, we are planning to re-launch Cool Girls on Tuesday, Aug. 28. So, mark your calendars. We always have a waiting list, so preregister now. Once again, fourth- and fifth-graders will meet Thursdays from 2:30-4:30; while the younger girls will meet Tuesdays from 2:30-4:00. We are also planning a parent meeting for all moms and dads and grandparents of Cool Girls - sometime in mid-September. We will discuss the program as well as provide tips on how you can help your girls with STEAM at home. Stay tuned!
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What We Did Recently
- The younger group of Cool Girls took a hands-on trip to the Boulder Potters Guild, at 3185 Sterling Circle. Girls got creative with clay, even whipping up name plates for themselves. See our Facebook page for more photos.
- Both groups also continued to learn about the miracles of the human body, thanks to CU Science Discovery mentors (see our April newsletter on our website).
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Other cool events
- Week of July 30: As you plan summer camps for your daughters and sons, consider CU Science Discovery. At least one CG (Milena) will be participating in Space Odyssey and Telescopes the week of July 30. She'd love a friend to come along! Science Discovery is offering about 250 classes throughout the summer and has scholarships available.
- Create NASA Earth Day Video, Win Seats To A Launch Check out details on this NASA video competition. Entries will be accepted through May. Maybe some Cool Girls can win a seat to a launch! Click here for details.
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Cool Girls Board of Directors Meeting
The Cool Girls Board of Directors met Monday, May 21, to begin revising our strategic plan and planning our expansion to Red Oak Park this summer and to Longmont in the next school year. If you would like to attend such meetings, please contact Mary Golden, Director.
NEW BOARD MEMBERS NEEDED
Because Cool Girls is growing, we need five experienced volunteers to join us during this auspicious and exciting time in Cool Girls' history. To prepare for the 2012-2013 school year, we hope to fill these positions asap: Chair, Treasurer, Logistics Director (field trips and snacks), Assistant Director (administration) and Newsletter Editor. If you don't have time to serve on the board but would like to help with photos, the website, mentoring the girls or in other ways, let us know. On average, most nonprofit board members volunteer an average of about 8-10 hours per month when work is equitably distributed over a year. If you are interested, know someone who might be, or would like to volunteer in another capacity not mentioned here, please contact Mary Golden, Director.
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COOL GIRLS NEED A ROOM OF OUR OWN
We are grateful to the Hornung family for housing our supplies during the past school year. We are looking for a space of at least 100 sf that will hold bookshelves, cabinets and a work table for staging supplies and would like to complete this move before August. If you have any leads, please contact Cool Girls art director Cindy Noel.
 At a recent Curriculum Committee meeting, Cindy told us about how significant it had been for her son's development that they had a large greenhouse alongside their house as he grew up. He was able to make art and science projects from recycled and other materials at will. Sometimes his friends--both boys and girls--came, too. There are numerous videos and stories online about kid entrepreneurs who have made real money by the time they were in high school to help finance their college educations. Or to help others.
Some of you may have heard about Caine's Arcade. Caine Monroy is a nine-year-old boy whose cardboard arcade resulted in a video that went viral and attracted more than $100,000 for his college fund. He went to work with his dad at his auto parts store and spent the time putting things together. It's a touching and inspirational story.
Maia Drugmand, a 10-year-old student at Peak to Peak Charter School, has assembled 600 turtles with the help of her family that she will sell at the Boulder Creek Festival to help children through the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Colorado. You can find her at the northeast corner of the Library parking lot or buy them online.
Please make a tax-deductible donation to help us set up a "Cool Girls' Garage" where girls, parents and mentors can come occasionally to use our supplies to make a mess and
Create! Design! Engineer! Concoct!
In the meantime, how about building shelves along the wall in that rec room with the TV and the workout equipment and bringing in a folding table for projects? What a great way to spend time with your children!
Upload to our Facebook site the stories and photos of what you and your Cool Girls do!
Happy Summer!
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