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.

2024 Tech Trek Campers Love 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, 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.”