YES Student Wins Tech Trek Scholarship!

Each year since 2011, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) selects around 100 seventh grade girls from around the state to attend a “Tech Trek” for one week in the summer at UC Davis, one of the nation’s top public research universities. During this week, they have dorm mates focused on similar topics, participate in hands-on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) related activities, and get to know their interests better before they begin eighth grade in the fall. The selection process includes questions about their interests in STEM subjects as well as a recommendation from one of their STEM teachers. The Yuba-Sutter AAUW selected 5 girls from the area this year, including our very own Violeta (Vee) Gentry-Morales! When asked about her experience there, she shared “Tech Trek was one of the best weeks of my life. There were so many things I loved about Tech Trek for starters my favorite was my dorm mates . . . Another thing was learning about anatomy and space, those were my two favorite subjects . . . In the future when I get a career I know that I will probably have to use math and science because those two things are very important. Thank you for everything”. Violeta expressed how grateful she was for her selection to attend this year’s Tech Trek in a letter sent to the organizers. It is clear that the students who attended had an exciting, educational time leaving even more inspired than they arrived.