Showing technological savvy, six girls aged 10 to 13 opted to take their digital skills to the next level participating in a multimedia project inside the UCSF Public Affairs department.
The half-day session was one of many activities offered at UCSF as faculty, staff and students welcomed boys and girls to the annual day to expose children to the inner workings of the health sciences university.
Now billed as "Kids' at UCSF Day: Promoting Equity for Girls and Boys," this yearly activity is an outgrowth of "Take our Daughters to Work Day," which was originated by the Ms. Foundation in 1992. Some 360 children signed up to participate in a variety of programs run by volunteers throughout UCSF.
Those visiting the Public Affairs office at Laurel Heights were introduced to careers ranging from web developer to reporter.
The girls, all of whom cited surfing on the Internet as part of their daily routine, were eager and enthusiastic to learn how to produce a video and podcast with the University Publications web team and colleagues from Community & Governmental Relations and University Relations. After a brief introduction to reporting and interviewing techniques, the girls took turns asking each other questions for a
streaming video posted here.
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| Girls who went behind the scenes at the UCSF Public Affairs department, were clockwise from front left, Aisha Macey, Jacqueline Spence, Jameka Smith, Anna Krinkel, Andrea Ceballos and Majenta Strongheart.
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Using the web, the girls say, is a favorite past-time as they often visit their favorite websites to play games, create movies and music, read up on the latest news and conduct research for school reports.
Berkeley resident Anna Krinkel, 12, says she is learning about three-dimensional modeling in one of her classes. Krinkel, who takes archery and violin lessons, says she wants to be a biologist and/or author when she grows up.
Majenta Strongheart, 11, says she often uses email to catch up with friends and family members. Strongheart says she also uses her computer to create fashions, early training for a girl who wants to be either a fashion or graphic designer.
Other girls participating in the program were Andrea Ceballos, 13, Jameka English, 10, Aisha Macey, 13, and Jacqueline Spence, 11.
In another sign of the digital times, three of the six girls own an iPod, a portable media player gaining wide acceptance among adolescents and adults alike. The product, designed, marketed and manufactured by Apple Computer, ranges in price from $69 for a 512MB iPod shuffle to $399 for a 60GB iPod.
Sponsored by the
Center for Gender Equity, the day also offered programs that allowed kids to dress up in scrubs and see how anesthesiologists care for patients during surgery in the operating room, visit the Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Unit and learn how transplants are used to treat diseases in children. In another program, kids became assistant researchers in the School of Pharmacy as they helped harvest frogs' eggs and prepare experiments. They also aided researchers as they use zebrafish to help understand how the same medicine works differently in different people.
Following the morning program, the children gathered in Millberry Union Gym, for a pizza lunch and entertainment by a youth hip hop group Funk Beyond Control, part of DC Productions of Oakland. After lunch children are invited to accompany their parents to their individual departments.
Youth & Family Programs, part of
Campus Life Services, also hosted an afternoon program for 120 children to play organized games until 3 p.m.
Source and photo: Lisa Cisneros
