Through Their Eyes: What Black Girls Do Engineer Means to Me

What better way to celebrate Black Girls Do Engineer Day and seven years of impact than by hearing directly from the girls who are living the mission?

In this special anniversary episode, the microphones are turned over to some of our youngest Future of Tech Summer Camp participants. Through their own voices, they share what Black Girls Do Engineer means to them, what they learned during camp, and how hands-on experiences in engineering and technology are changing the way they see themselves and their futures.

From building and creating to discovering new technologies and making new friends, these girls remind us that confidence begins with opportunity. Their excitement, honesty, and imagination reflect exactly why Black Girls Do Engineer was founded seven years ago—to create spaces where Black girls are encouraged to dream boldly, explore fearlessly, and see themselves as the engineers, innovators, and leaders of tomorrow.

As we celebrate this milestone, we're reminded that our greatest measure of success isn't just the programs we've created—it's the voices, confidence, and limitless potential of the girls we serve.

Thank you to every student, parent, volunteer, educator, corporate partner, donor, and supporter who has been part of this seven-year journey. Because of you, thousands of girls have discovered that they belong in STEM.

Today, we celebrate seven years of impact.

Tomorrow, we continue building the future—one girl at a time.

Happy Black Girls Do Engineer Day! 💛🖤

🎧 Listen now and experience Black Girls Do Engineer through their eyes.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:56

Welcome back to Black Girls to Engineer Podcast. I'm Cara Branch, founder and CEO and chemical engineer. We are here today with a very special episode. We're going to be talking to some of our girls at our future of tech camp here in Houston, Texas. They're going to tell you about some of the things they learned. Also, about if if they had fun, maybe we talk about a lot about exposure. So if this is their first time being exposed, maybe not. We're just going to have a great conversation. So you can hear from them, right? They are the ones who have participated in our camp for four days. It has been very insightful. A lot of stuff has happened in our camp. And so we're going to talk about it. Just so our listeners, whether you're a parent who wants to hear about STEM and what our youth in our program is learning, whether you're a student who want to dive into some of the fun like they did, an educator that wants to hear church of perspective on learning about STEM, or just a partner. We've had a lot of great partners that invested into this camp this week. So thank you to my partners. We cannot do this work without you. So we appreciate you. So, girls, are you ready to get into it? Yes. Let's talk about it. So, quick intros. We'll start down at the end there and we'll work our way back to Ms. Car. So just your name and what if you're in elementary middle, please let the people know.

SPEAKER_05 2:27

My name is Mirrorless, and I'm in elementary school.

SPEAKER_03 2:32

Okay, Mirrorless in Elementary.

SPEAKER_05 2:34

My name's Solissa, and I'm initially school to Okay. My name's Brooklyn, and I'm in elementary school.

SPEAKER_03 2:44

Awesome. So we start pretty young here at Black Girls Do Engineer as young as kindergarten. So our camp catered to kinder to eighth grade, but we want to start with that early curiosity phase of exposure. So we're gonna see something so that they learned this week. So question. And I will start with you, Meryless. So how's camp? How's it going? Good. Good. Is it fun? Yeah. So did you make you some friends during camp? Because that's important. So some friends are made. What about you, Alyssa High's camp boy?

SPEAKER_05 3:18

Good. It's fun.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

A lot of fun.

SPEAKER_05 3:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Yeah. In Brooklyn, how's it?

SPEAKER_05 3:24

Camp is really good. It's exciting, and I learn new things.

SPEAKER_03 3:28

You learn some new things. So let's talk about what y'all learned. So it's been a fun-filled week. Four days, right, girls?

SPEAKER_05 3:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

Early. Yeah, it's our last day. Are you sad about that? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:38

I'm so sad.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

Oh. My mom's happy though. Because probably because of the drive. So here's the.

SPEAKER_05 3:43

I may not even see the people again.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

You should. So Ms. Cara's gonna give y'all some tips today. So I love this conversation because we always talk about how our program is a sisterhood. And they really are. They get to meet girls who have the same interest to come together and build friendships. So Ms. Cara's gonna give them some tips how to stay connected with her friends over the summer and how to continue to throw together, okay? So we'll make that happen today.

SPEAKER_05 4:09

So let's talk about first day. Do y'all remember what we did on day one? Yes. Day one, we did coding. Coding. So the bacon girls went upstairs. Like fifth grade and fourth went upstairs.

SPEAKER_03 4:25

Yes, because they were doing a different coding. So yeah, we do things by level. No, how many of you was that your first time coding? Yes. Yes. Was it fun? Yes.

SPEAKER_05 4:38

It was very fun. I like to move the little characters on scratch.

SPEAKER_03 4:42

Okay, so we did some scratch coding with the stations, right? What else did y'all learn?

SPEAKER_05 4:46

If you remember anything you learned, I learned that coding is one and zero.

SPEAKER_03 4:52

What is that called? Because that was like R67, right? We said one zero. So yeah, remember what we call that? Starts with a dick's letter B. Remember? Binary numbers. That's it. So that part either speaks to us, y'all or spot on. So those binary numbers. So those ones and zeros. Y'all never forget it, right?

SPEAKER_05 5:13

Yeah. That's the EC coding.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

Yes. Remember about us writing code? Y'all remember writing? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:21

Actually, that was so cool. And I and my friends here make bracelets where we first name, like the first letter name and the first last letter name for like a bracelet. Like one of Sul's.

SPEAKER_03 5:37

You talking about those binary code bracelets? Yeah. Y'all like that?

SPEAKER_05 5:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

Y'all still have your bracelets?

SPEAKER_05 5:42

Yum. Mine is at home. Mine's in the car.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

So did y'all know that coding can be in many ways, not just with a computer, but you can do it with bracelets. You can do it with other craftways. Did you notice you can code like that? No. I didn't know that. Yeah, we've done it in many ways. We've done it with Legos.

SPEAKER_05 6:00

Could you imagine coding with Legos? Yeah. I can't do it with Legos. Can you do it like by using sign language?

SPEAKER_03 6:08

Yeah. So here's a good thing about this. I have a friend in Chicago who has an amazing organization that does focus on coding for our ASL community. Right? That is her whole entire organization where she focuses on teaching them how to code using sign language. That's so cool. So cool and so needed. So yes, that's a great question. You can learn a code, exactly. It is very inclusive. We always want to be inclusive of all that we do. So yes, everyone can learn to code, okay? Okay. So we what language do y'all remember which language y'all learned how to write code for? AAI. So we did a lot of writing AI. We're gonna get to AI in a minute, but yeah, AI. We did our our worksheet on how to write code. Yeah, remember the language?

SPEAKER_05 6:55

Yeah, it was M. I mean, no, H H T L. Yeah, H L. Yes. And P, the P, the this the with a P this Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:08

So I taught you all how to identify the code and what each thing means, right? Yes. And so you'll remember, yes, that P is for paragraph, right? Yeah. And the yellow heading and how it all looks and the importance of the brackets, how we need those brackets, right? And y'all made your own code. So HTML with y'all's language. Y'all did block coding too. So when y'all used scratch, that was block coding. Okay. Okay, so a lot. We had a lot of stuff we did on day one. Let's talk about day two. What was day two?

SPEAKER_05 7:38

We made like a lobla, like like an on blood, like yes, robotics, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:46

So we tied in robotics with medicine. Do y'all remember? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:51

So because we talked about all the robotics that's happening around surgery. Yeah, surgery. Yeah. Okay. But so we did the the medical equipment. Do y'all remember what it was?

SPEAKER_05 8:03

Oh yeah. I think it was like my heart and how my shoe bleaf and stuff like that. Was that your was that one of your favorite days?

SPEAKER_03 8:12

Favorite. Yeah. Would you like coding? Yeah. It's so fun. So here's the thing. So Miss Kyra told y'all this is about exposure, about you learning about what fits with you. Tecname is a very hard thing to learn. Shall we agree?

SPEAKER_02 8:29

Yes. And so especially at y'all's age, y'all should be very proud of yourself.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

I'm so trained this week because many adults are learning the things you all are this week. Do you understand that?

SPEAKER_05 8:41

Oh my gosh. So we're smarter than adults.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

Well, you know, I'll let you call it. What a fault. But you're most definitely training at the level of adults. How about that? Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_05 8:51

That's so cool. You didn't know that, right? No. I'm just a naive.

SPEAKER_03 8:55

Built this curriculum specifically for you all. That's why we call it the future of tech camp. It's doing what people are doing now in tech, but I made it for you. How cool is that? That's really cool. So I need you to learn it the way that it works for you. So it was a tough week. This camp was very exciting.

SPEAKER_05 9:18

We learned a whole lot of new things. I made new friends.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

Yes. So robotics was day two, robotic orms, robotic hands. We learned about medical and technology robotics. Let's talk about day three. We got into what? What was it? Chat AI.

SPEAKER_04 9:36

AI.

SPEAKER_03 9:37

So y'all heard a lot about AI. Tell us, tell us some of the things y'all learned. We learned Chat GPT, Claude. And one more.

SPEAKER_05 9:47

What's the other way? How to ride good prompts.

SPEAKER_03 9:49

Good AI prompts. So what was our other AI agents? So you said two. We had one more we learned. Remember? Gemini. Gemini. Ooh, Gemini. Yeah, so we learned how to choose the right AI tool, right? But y'all learned about AI prompting. So how did y'all feel about AI prompting?

SPEAKER_05 10:10

Good. Good. Like we feel really good about Gemini because it typed in fast.

SPEAKER_03 10:15

Really fast, right?

SPEAKER_05 10:16

So fast. It showed me in my interface.

SPEAKER_03 10:19

Yeah. So like those are like some of the most definitely the top AI agents right now. And what did we learn about prompting? What was the words this car kept saying when y'all were learning prompting? Yeah, remember details? Tell them exactly what you want. Details, right? Very details.

SPEAKER_05 10:40

A lot of details. A lot of details.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

And we talked about that from other rims. We want a lot of detail because we want to get it all done, right? In the first one, but also for our environment, right?

SPEAKER_04 10:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

Yeah, remember what I said about the environment? Wait, what was it? I know it. You do know it. I said Ms. Car said a lot of things yesterday. So I get it. We talked about the water supply. So we're working on quantum computing today. We talked about it in a minute. But you see in your designs today, you have those cooling systems, right? Yes. Cooling systems take water. So those data centers is what they use for AI. So if you're using a billion prompts a day, what those data centers is using? A lot of water. So we gotta be careful to our environment. We don't want to be able to affect our water. We don't want to if affect our land or our ear, right?

SPEAKER_05 11:35

Yes. This world is ours, right? Yeah, we live here, so it's ours. We gotta take care of it. We got to make sure we take care of the earth so our be healthy. And we can well, if you help the earth, it may make less people get sick. Yeah. Yep. All those things matter. Like that bomb is just like coming along. It's like a heel's bomb is like coming around the like city and the world. Like it's like people's home to the hospital because of that.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

And we live right here in Houston, so we know what it feels like to have power outages, and it gets very hot here, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:16

It's so hot. Very hot.

SPEAKER_03 12:19

So we want to do very detailed prompts to get it all done in that first one. And then it's okay to tweak it, right? Because it may not give you everything you need, or you may be like, oops, I forgot something. And then you write another prompt to get it done, right? But we don't want to be using like 10, 20 prompts a day, right?

SPEAKER_05 12:37

Too much.

SPEAKER_03 12:38

Like too much. What else? Y'all remember anything else? Yeah, I know I talked about prompts because I told you why. I talked about AI prompts hard in our camp because that is the number one thing everybody's struggling with.

SPEAKER_05 12:50

Another thing I learned about AI is that like it gives you images.

SPEAKER_03 12:56

Yeah, I like those images. So which AI agent were y'all using to see those images?

SPEAKER_05 13:02

I was using Chat GPT and Google Gemini.

SPEAKER_03 13:05

And how did those images look?

SPEAKER_05 13:07

It looks it looked clear, but on ChatGPT, it kind of took a while to show me, and then it kind of showed me the wrong thing.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

Okay. Okay, that's good. I love that you were able to spot that. Were you able to get it right? Because you know that's the engineering use. All right.

SPEAKER_05 13:24

Yeah, it gave like when I was like upstairs with my partner, it was saying something like my robot can do, and that wasn't the thing we needed for the thing. So me and my partner had to start over with something. I don't know what like it was one of the rules of the thing. Like when it was like doing something upstairs and like like when it was like making like uh like the robot stuff, yeah, and it said something way different, like way off. And I'm pretty sure we was using chop chop DBT. And we didn't need it. I was like widening down, so then uh we didn't need it. So she had came over and fixed it.

SPEAKER_03 14:13

Awesome. I love that y'all did that. So one thing about our project that we did upstairs yesterday, it was really to make sure that y'all knew how to use it as a resource. But remember, Miss Cara said she doesn't want y'all to use it in place of your brains, right? Yeah, because y'all are brilliant, y'all know that? Yes, so you what's your what's in your head matters. So if you need help on a project like we did yesterday, always ask for help. Always ask for help and use your AI prompt to help you and read it because AI is still developing, right?

SPEAKER_05 14:44

Yeah, it's like calling new, new, but it's not that new, but pretty pretty new.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

Pretty new to y'all. Yeah, nervous cars told y'all it's been around since the 1950s. Not yes, it's like oh okay, yeah, because y'all think you're under the 1900s. Yeah, it's taking off in y'all generation, for sure. And so it's going to be y'all's world. And so it's best for you to learn how to use it, but as a helper and not as a replacement for your amazing brains, okay? Okay. So what are we doing today? What what have we been doing?

SPEAKER_04 15:19

So today we're doing technical that big old Q word.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

What's that big old Q word?

SPEAKER_04 15:29

Qology.

SPEAKER_03 15:30

Quantum computing. So do any of you have any of you ever did anything with physics? I know you're an elementary. You know what physics is? I heard physics. You heard an answer on this on Matilda. Oh I love Matilda. Perfect example. Have any of you other people seen Matilda?

SPEAKER_05 15:49

I say once my friend was my friend. Like she's older than me, but she's just it's my friend's self. Like, we watched it like in her house, and I now watch it with my cousin once.

SPEAKER_03 16:05

Yeah, Matilda's like one of my favorite movies when I was your age.

SPEAKER_05 16:08

Yeah, my cousin.

SPEAKER_03 16:09

Yeah, I know. Yeah, I think it was hard.

SPEAKER_05 16:10

It was a really good movie. It taught me like like in the movie when it was doing the musical, I said you cannot be late for physics.

SPEAKER_03 16:19

Mm-hmm. So quantum is a form of physics, okay? You learn a lot about it when you all become STEM professionals. I'm a chemical engineer, but physics was like my favorite in college. It's a pretty cool class. So that's kind of the quantum piece of it. A lot of physics. Is physics kind of like building stuff? You do, but more from a science way. So it is a science. Is it science?

SPEAKER_04 16:45

A little science.

SPEAKER_03 16:46

Um, it has a little bit of calculations in it, but you can do more labs. Let's say that. Okay. More science.

unknown 16:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:55

So a lot of labs. So fun labs though. Like you play with electricity, maybe in some. Like I've had some professionals. Play with electricity? Like you know those big balls that you can put your hands on. Oh. And your hair may go up. Have you ever known that before? I think so. So in some science classes, I used to have some of my professors, they used to put their, I cannot think of the name of the ball, but it's it's like able for you to get that static, right? Electricity. I know if you like rubber balloon on your hair. Like that. Just like that.

SPEAKER_05 17:25

Oh, that way your hair will start moving.

SPEAKER_03 17:27

That's exactly like a form of physics, right? So that computing part that's coming in is where all the computers, the data, the data centers and all that we was we were building, like the servers, right? In the project we're doing.

SPEAKER_05 17:40

Downstairs.

SPEAKER_03 17:41

Yeah. So all that is just tying those two things in together to make a what are we making today? Y'all remember what it is? Computers. Those supercomputers are trying to make your supercomputer. So how is that going? How are your supercomputers coming going?

SPEAKER_05 17:59

My mom putty. I'm holding her like to decilite. Now now my goo downstairs, just decilite, just making it look nice.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

Yeah. So y'all are doing fantastic.

SPEAKER_05 18:15

Can I say something to the so the supercomputer is not actually an actual computer? It's like paper and cardboard, and we're trying to make it with electricity and LEG lights.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

Yeah. So we're adding some of that circuit work. Yeah. So I remember Ms. Cara told y'all quantum computing, it's going to be y'all gonna be the leaders in that. And that it's gonna take out for sure in the next 10 to 20 years. And so there are some companies. Remember, I showed you all the companies that's made billions of dollars of investments into it already. It's a lot. Yeah, a lot. Yeah, that's a lot of money. But people are investing because it's gonna be something phenomenal. And it's the next big thing, like AI. But it's for y'all. Y'all gonna lead that. So I told you. And there's some companies that have some supercomputers. If you ever see one in person in a lab setting, y'all would it would blow your mind because it's really cool. That quantum chamber that y'all building, y'all's is cute, right? About the LED lights. But those quantum chambers in person are phenomenal. Look it up. Y'all know how to use AI, right? Yeah, yes. And y'all know how to use imaging. So you can add that prompt to see what it looks like. But I wanted you all to do it from a craft perspective. Because crafting is fun, right?

SPEAKER_04 19:33

Yes, very fun. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 19:36

I I have like for my build the computer, we have trainings around that. I do have computers that I do bring in for girls to build.

SPEAKER_05 19:43

Crafting is fun, especially because I like drawing and coloring and all that stuff. Yeah, yeah. And your projects are looking so good. Yes, they're phenomenal.

SPEAKER_03 19:56

They're so pretty. Pretty. And but did y'all know all of that stuff went into quantum computing? Like the server, the not at all. No, I didn't run that. I don't know. That cooling system. Yeah, I like the project I created for y'all. Yeah, yes. Yeah. When I turned those boards around, everybody was like, ooh, I it was cute.

SPEAKER_05 20:22

Another thing I'm excited today for is we're having a party. Yeah, well, we put in a lot of hard work, right? We have for that, yeah. I think we've created it a lot too. Like, we all did a lot. We try our best every day to have this big party we're about to have when we can go back downstairs. And I hope we just have a last day fun like day.

SPEAKER_03 20:49

Sorry, I know y'all like the mics. And it's hard being in elementary doing it, so y'all are rocking it, okay? Yes, we are gonna go downstairs and have a big, big, big celebration, right? We're gonna try and make this as cool as I can. But it's because you worked hard. Well, you really just really deserve it.

SPEAKER_05 21:07

We made new friends, we learned new things. I learned a whole lot of stuff. I didn't know about coding. Quantum competing. I know that's a thing. That's elusive.

SPEAKER_03 21:20

I just call it technology competing. That works for me. I like the computing term, so we'll take that too. I mean, it's I knew before I got near Wist You Girls at the beginning of the week because I created everything we did. And I and I created everything we did for y'all. Y'all the first to ever do this stuff. Every time I show up with girls, everywhere I go, I create a project specifically for them. I've never done the same thing twice. Because I want everybody to have a different experience. And I also want you all to do stuff that pertains to what's important to your market that you live in, right? So this is made just for you and mine. And I knew when I walked in there on Monday, I was the I could grow some hard stuff, some big swerves at y'all. Yeah. And y'all handled it like champs.

SPEAKER_05 22:06

Even the little kids did it good. They are doing right. They're doing so good.

SPEAKER_03 22:12

And they're get doing good. Yeah. And they're learning the same things you're learning so they can explain to parents. So that y'all, was it was y'all excited to come every day?

SPEAKER_05 22:22

Yeah. Yeah. But on the first day, I was nervous. Yes. I was so scared. Like I didn't know nobody there. Yeah. The only person I knew was my cheer friend Giselle. I knew two people. I knew Grisel and Tanaya. And I didn't get a sit by them like the first day. But like more the third day or the second day, I get a sit by them. Cause now, like, I'm like, I'm at like tonight, like table six now. Like, I'm having a lot of fun with my new friends there. I was so nervous, like moving.

SPEAKER_03 23:04

Like, but y'all have so many new friends y'all make. Yeah. Like everybody. No matter what table you were at, you still made friends with people all over the space. And I'm happy you brought that up that you came in nervous the first day. Because a lot of times our parents are nervous because they don't really understand what's really happening their cells. They just want better for their children, right? For y'all to understand. But then y'all are nervous because y'all's never done this. So I kind of wish this is school. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's the school. Yeah. My friends.

SPEAKER_05 23:37

Every day. I want to come back. Same. I'm just sad because it's over. Like tomorrow. Like, I don't, I can't come back because this was the best time ever.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

Yeah. And I wanted that to be there for you. The good news is that Miss Cara does a lot of events. This doesn't have to be your last time. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 23:58

And I don't want to.

SPEAKER_03 24:01

I have a camp every year. This is my third one.

SPEAKER_05 24:03

Sure. This is why we're first time. This is my first time, so I don't know a lot of people.

SPEAKER_03 24:09

In that room, have that this is their third camp. Yeah. I do this every year for y'all. But also I have daughters, and my daughters look forward to this camp every year. They like my like my little daughter is Brooklyn too. Y'all have such a great name.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:30

And every morning she's up before me dressed, ready to come.

SPEAKER_05 24:35

Really? So just have fun? Yeah. To just smart this camp just like y'all. Sometimes at home I still be half sleep. It is an early morning. It's so early, like school time. This is very far from my house. Mine's too.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

Same. I drive five too. Just like y'all. I you know, Miss Car told you I drive for y'all. I get on planes. Miss Car get on planes every single lot.

SPEAKER_05 25:01

Huh? I get planes and travel like a whole lot. I think I get on the planes at least like every Christmas to go see my mom's side of the family because they all live in Jackson, Mississippi. Oh, cool. So cool. I'm not gonna do that.

SPEAKER_03 25:20

So tell me, we are here one by one. What was your favorite day? I know that could be hard, but I want you to think about it about like what you would want to be when you grow up because you enjoyed it that much. So base it off of that. What was your favorite day and why? So we'll start with you at the end, Mary Liz.

SPEAKER_05 25:39

My favorite day was the first day because I really like making the websites. And when I grow up, I want to be a medical engineer.

SPEAKER_03 25:49

Love it. Website development. That website was cool. It happened fast, didn't it? It was pretty dope. All right, Alyssa, what was your favorite day in why and what do you want to be?

SPEAKER_05 26:00

I think today's actually my free food day because I get to talk to I get to talk with my I get a talk with my friends I know from from my school and my my my girl scout friends. Well, I have to say sister. I'm a sister because we do Girl Scout together in the same school. And I'm really having fun today. I have fun the first day, the second day is there, but I think this day is the funnest all the days because I just really like it and I like to quite like big things. It's little, yeah, but it's bigger. I like it more. So yeah, and why I wanna be cool uh I still wanna be a dancer because I I I tell you like dancing more like drama or senior. So I still want to be a senior dancer, or I can do both.

SPEAKER_03 27:08

You can do both, and you can add tech in here. Look at us wearing this podcast room. Yeah, I or tech, right? Yeah, I entertainers use this.

SPEAKER_05 27:16

Yeah, or I can't be what you doing like right now. Oh, what's I'm doing with my podcaster? Maybe yeah, because I literally like this room.

SPEAKER_03 27:29

Yeah, the room is beautiful.

SPEAKER_05 27:31

Yeah, it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 27:32

Yeah, what about you, Brooklyn?

SPEAKER_05 27:35

So my favorite day was today too, because I like creating the supercomputer, it was really fun. I got to work with my friends at my table, and when I grow up, well, I do like to craft like a lot. I craft a lot at home and at school. But when I grow up, I wanna be like a STEN teacher for like kids like kinda in this, but I want just like little kids.

SPEAKER_03 28:12

Little kids, because yeah, they're a few kids. Yeah, I love it. So talking about camp to all those things with great girls. I'm very proud. We're gonna go down the roll again. And let me know if this is your first time ever doing this, something like this. Go ahead, Mary Lys.

SPEAKER_05 28:27

So it is actually my first time doing this. I never did like this kind of stuff. I never did coding or robotics before. Are you glad you did it? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

What about you, Alyssa?

SPEAKER_05 28:41

Yeah, it it's my first time like doing like coding Robux or like coding like zero and one in my name. Cause I never made a bracelet of zero and one, like my first name and my last name together and like making a bracelet. And and I'm so new and yeah, I'm so new doing this. I'm I like never never did this in my life before. And I'm just so happy doing this. I love that. This day. What about you, Brooklyn? So I have done something like this before, but this is my first time coming here to this camp. And it was really, really exciting. We made lots of things, made new friends. And yeah, that's really it. It it's this is the first time like doing STEM stuff, learning about coding, making coding bracelets. And I liked making the coding bracelets and the regular bracelets when we put a ones, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

Yeah, yeah, like those AI career ones, yeah. That torrent bracelet. Y'all still have your torrent bracelets? Yeah. An is at home. Awesome. So I'm happy to hear that. So would you do it again?

SPEAKER_05 30:06

Yes, definitely. Like one sh, yes.

SPEAKER_03 30:11

Yes. That is so good to hear. No, that lets me know I did my part. That lets me know that I did my part doing this for you all. It's been great because Miss Kara has been busy nonstop. And right before I started this camp, we were in New York Tech Week releasing our tech product. So it was a busy, busy time. But I came back to Texas and I worked hard to make sure we had everything ready to go. So to hear you all say that it was so much fun, that makes me so happy. That lets us know we did our job. How was it with the ambassador seeing the girls who started at your age? Many of them started at your age and they came back from college and during the summer to help you all. How is it seeing them really, as you're starting to see how they're older and how serious they are about STEM? How does that make you feel?

SPEAKER_05 31:03

It makes me feel really good that they want to come and do this again. If they wanted to come and do this again, they must have really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_03 31:12

Yeah, they grew up in this program. So many of them started with me in 2019, the girls you see in their room. And they literally started like in fourth grade, one of them in third. And they grew up in this program and they love this. They come back pretty much many of them every summer, because they just want to help though.

SPEAKER_04 31:32

So that'll just mean that they like them so much and you're doing a great job.

SPEAKER_03 31:37

Yeah, I I aim to do that, but my number one part that I love about Black Girls to Engineer is working with y'all. So it's good to see that y'all had a great time. Y'all enjoy camp. I'm happy I had a favorite day. I'm happy that y'all will love to come back. So I really just wanted y'all to tell the people your experience, right? Because it's one thing to hear it from me, it's one thing to hear he talk about it, but it's a whole nother thing to hear it from you all. Because you're the one experiencing it. And so, and also just do it with girls who look like you that all have the same interests as you. That's pretty cool. And what about these cam shirts? Shout out to the cam shirts.

SPEAKER_05 32:16

Do y'all know lady shirts? No, nope. I know it said something with the N on the back. And today, this morning, my mom told me that my dad used to work for the company.

SPEAKER_03 32:27

One of the companies on a shirt, so our partners is on the back. Mr. Ricky designed these shirts.

SPEAKER_05 32:33

He did? Oh my god, it's my mom loves this shirt. Like, she said, no shirt you have this day, Alyssa. It's this good. Like this good.

SPEAKER_03 32:45

So y'all gonna have we're gonna have to, when we have our party in a minute, we're gonna have to thank Mr. Ricky for the shirt. He designed these shirts for y'all, girls.

SPEAKER_05 32:52

My mom really liked this shirt because it has butt girls on it. That's it, right? Like, yes. And like it kind of shows what we've been doing down down here. Like the parts, yeah. Like the coding, the robotics, the AI, and then quantum computing.

SPEAKER_03 33:14

And you watch, you're gonna be the one you're gonna remember quantum computing very well. You're probably gonna be the one leading it, huh? We're gonna stay tuned to see.

SPEAKER_05 33:23

Yes. Well, MQ Girls for talking to me. Is there anything you wanna add before we wrap up? No. Yes. Okay, go ahead, Burger. This camp was really wonderful, and I thank you for giving us all of these things to practice on. Teaching us new things that some of us didn't know. And it was really exciting. I appreciate it. It was so fun. Like the best camp I can ever have fun. Well I'm going to after this camp, I I had to go to like a cheer camp. You cheer too? Yeah, I do a cheer. Oh, cool. And after cheer, I got like a I don't know that this camp was to be fun like this camp though. Oh no. Oh my god. Check my camp up there, girls. Yeah, yeah. It's hard.

SPEAKER_03 34:16

Yeah, feel no, I got to cheer and dance too. So I understand. I I enjoy doing that. I do cheer. You do cheer. But I wanted you all to know. I'll get into it first, Mirilis. Tell me if you want to add anything before.

SPEAKER_05 34:31

Yeah. I'm just gonna thank you because you're a really good teacher. And I'm glad that you started this um camp.

SPEAKER_03 34:40

It is my pleasure. I do this work solely for y'all. I don't do it for the clout. I don't do it for the awards. I get a lot of awards, but I do it because I feel like I was called from my religious belief to serve my community. And so I solely show up here every day for y'all. Okay. So it's not, I never think about what I myself in the process. I take care of myself. I gotta make sure I'm healthy to do it, right? But I solely think about y'all's experience the whole time and want you all to do this because I've done my years in the industry, and I want to be able to pass the torch to many, many more young girls to come in behind me because we talked about AI ethics, right? Yesterday. And you all belong here. And I want you to have the know that you belong here and the confidence that goes with it, right? Y'all being in here, it's the most confident thing you can do. You're talking, and you're talking very well. So having those two things together is going to build you up so strong that even if someone tells you you cannot do it, because believing in life, there is people like that out there that will tell you, no, don't try this, don't do this. You do it anyway. Understood? Yes. Don't let nobody stop your dreams. And that's what another part of our campus building you up for, to love it so much that no matter what people try to say you can't do, that you do it, okay? Yes, ma'am. So that is the key part that I want you to take away from our camp experience this week. All the knowledge. Don't stop the knowledge. You know how to use these AI agents. This is a very quick research for you. You're ever sitting at home, you're wondering, like, hmm, wanna know a little bit more about that. Go look it up. I researched stuff all day on my phone. Keep your brain going. Keep your brain powered going, okay? And do come see me again. I sure have. I will. I will stuff in the new era. Houston is our home for Black Girls New Engineers. Our first ever headquarters. So we have other headquarters, but this is our first. This is my home. So I take care of y'all. So I have a lot of stuff in Houston.

SPEAKER_05 36:58

So, like the embossed, the ambassador when they were little, they were in here.

SPEAKER_03 37:03

My downstreet. So we're remember Ms. Carter told you we were in an innovation in Houston? So we were a part of a big incubator down the street for many, many years since they started here in Houston. We transitioned to this building because it's women empowered, right? I'm a woman. There's a lot of great people in this building. It's woman-owned and they're doing a lot of great work here. So I do a lot of my events here as well. But we're really still huge and a part of the innovation hub here in Houston and many other cities too. So when you travel, you never know. You may see Ms. Kara, but I'm happy to know that you enjoyed the camp. I'm happy that you all had this conversation with me. And so we're gonna close it out because we gotta get to our party, right? Yes. Okay. So I'll go ahead and close this out. So thank you for telling your story to our listeners because it's one thing to hear from me. Ms. Kara can preach about this all day. But I love to for people to hear your story. So if you are a parent, an educator who need this programming for your school, then you want to understand how to partner with us, or if you're a parent who have daughters as young as six years old. Okay, they just told you those young girls are in there learning this stuff. They're welcome here as young as six, all the way up to 12th grade. You heard their story better than I can tell it to you. You want to sign up to come and be a part of these things. If you are a student listening, you want to tell your parents you want to do these things. And my partner, thank you for supporting us. And we always need more partners. So do reach out to us, everyone at black girls to engineer that or to learn more about us, or you can email us directly at info at black girls to engineer.org. Thank you, girls, and we are signing off. You are welcome.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

Bye.