By Zach Spicer
The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation provides educators with competition, education and workforce readiness programs to increase student engagement in science, technology, engineering, math and computer science.
The organization offers Girl Powered Workshops to engage and inform young women about STEM and robotics opportunities available to them. Teachers, coaches, event partners and mentors are invited to host any time in October their own Girl Powered Workshop to honor International Day of the Girl.
A day before that annual observance, the second Jackson County Girl Powered Workshop was conducted Oct. 10 at Seymour Middle School.
Nearly 30 middle and high school girls from Jackson County attended the event. Seymour Middle School, Seymour High School, Trinity Lutheran High School, St. Ambrose Catholic School, Jackson County 4-H and Jackson County Homeschool were represented.
They were joined by eight female employees of AISIN USA Mfg. Inc., Valeo and Cummins Inc., who spoke about their various roles, from engineering to information technology, at their companies and helped the girls as they participated in a variety of activities.
In one room, they assembled pink Lego cars. In another room, they rotated between stations where they had a ramp speed race, built a tower with dry spaghetti noodles and marshmallows, built a bridge with toothpicks and rubber bands, participated in a Lego build challenge without instructions and did a speed build of a Lego skid steer.
The event was organized by Amy Jo Miller Kuzel and Jamie Baker, who are among the Seymour Community School Corp. robotics coaches.
“We are proud to be one of the hundreds of Girl Powered Workshops that take place around the world in the month of October coinciding with the United Nations’ International Day of the Girl on Oct. 11,” Baker said.
She said RECF and VEX Robotics are working to redefine the face of STEM and make robotics reflective of the diverse world we live in and the one we want to leave behind.
“Girl Powered Workshops are meant to … connect young women with mentors, highlight examples of how women are changing the world, provide tools for success and offer an environment where all students’ confidence and abilities can grow,” Baker said.
Big thanks to Walmart Supercenter in Seymour for awarding JCIDC a $1,000 grant to be used for supplies for this workshop.
Check out The Tribune’s coverage of this workshop online at tribtown.com/2025/10/10/girl-powered-local-youth-attend-robotics-stem-workshop.
