The Tech Trek project – which has gone National – was begun in 1997 as the inspiration of Marie Wolbach, a member of the Palo Alto branch. Week-long camps for rising 7th grade girls are held at 22 different sites around the nation, with eight residential sites in California and also available virtually during each summer. The California camps are a project of AAUW California. Members of our branch have enthusiastically supported the camps for many years.
Here’s an overview video of past Tech Trek camps.
2025 Tech Trek campers have been selected
Many thanks to our two committees, one to select girls from Palo Alto schools and one to select girls from Los Altos and Mountain View schools. In addition, many thanks to all who donated generously – branch members and the Los Altos Rotary and Mountain View Kiwanis.
This July we can send 11 girls to Camp Hopper at Santa Clara University and another six girls to Virtual Tech Trek!
Going to Santa Clara U are Sophia Oozhak and Molly Zhu (Egan); Dylan Nguyen and Juliette Aguilar (Crittenden); Lilly Tekie and Sara Mottaghian (Blach); Autumn Carlson, Kendra Lui, Lillian Luong, and Sarah Seeger (Fletcher); Dana Sharon (JL Stanford). Residential camp takes place July 6-12.
Virtual campers are Caitlin Devine (Fletcher); Zitong Wang (JL Stanford); Kiana Chan and Ria Maheshwari (Blach); Selene Stein (Egan); Alice Finizola (Crittenden). Virtual camp is July 20-25.
Every girl who was nominated by their science or math teacher was outstanding and we always wish we could send more girls to camp, but space is always limited.
2024 Tech Trek Campers Loved Santa Clara University’s Camp Hopper
Seventeen local Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Mountain View girls had a unique and engaging experience with Tech Trek residential and virtual camps in July 2024, thanks to your generous support! The girls were nominated by their science and math teachers from three Palo Alto or three Los Altos and Mountain View middle schools. This year’s residential Camp Hopper took place at Santa Clara University. It is a quiet small campus. Tech Trek was the only camp during the week of July 7-13 when the girls were there. The chemistry labs are brand new and beautiful. “Good choice,” stated Natalie McClure, Tech Trek chair for Palo Alto selections. “I hope we can go there again next year.”
Wan-hsing (Emma) Chen, Oasis Gere, Ximena Mejia, Natalie Song, Clara Davis, and Sophie Xu from Palo Alto middle schools and Catalina Mendoza, Melissa Wilkinson, Kailani Weburg, Dameli Tokasheva, Uma Kenchammana, and Meghna Gopalakrishnan from LA and MV middle schools attended Santa Clara University’s camp.
Virtual camp was held the week of July 21-27. Girls spent time on their computers inventing a battery driven project. At the end each made a video describing their unique project. See a few project videos here. Virtual campers were Isha Voleti (Blach); Carli Themaat and Anita Hebbani (Egan); Alexandra Grbovic and Myria Mitra (Crittenden).
Here are some funny and serious thoughts from the girls at Camp Hopper:
- Clara – “This camp has been an amazing experience. Nighttime snacks were good, so thank you to whoever donated for that.”
- Emma – “I was able to learn so many things; on top of that I learned more about myself.”
- Dameli – “I can choose different career paths…without ever leaving the STEM fields.”
- Natalie – “I was extremely fortunate…by learning from passionate women that have succeeded in their careers.” Sophia – “When I lived in China science was…lectures, homework, and musty old textbooks,…Tech Trek in fifteen years if you see me as a surgeon…know that you helped me achieve.”
- Uma – “I have never been in a better environment to make friends and it’s all thanks to the safe space you created for me.”
Again, much thanks to our generous supporters, including the Mountain View Kiwanis and Los Altos Rotary clubs.