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 Campers Love Interactive Workshops

Sixteen 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 two Palo Alto and three Los Altos and Mountain View middle schools.

This was the second year for residential Camp Hopper at Santa Clara University. Tech Trek was held during the week of July 6-12. Cynthia Miller (AAUW Los Gatos-Saratoga) and Molly Mudgett were camp co-directors at Camp Hopper again this year.

Vicki Reeder, Tech Trek chair for Los Altos-Mountain View school selections, says, “I find working on Tech Trek every bit as satisfying as I did when the program started nearly 25 years ago. Reading the notes the girls write after camp is very rewarding. Hearing them express thoughts like, “I never knew there were other girls who love science” or “this camp has made me realize that I can do more than I thought” or “I have made so many new friends” never gets old and never feels fake. What a profound effect this program has had, thanks to all of us coming together to support and sustain it. Onward to the next 25!”

Residential campers this year were 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 and Dominiki Chow (JL Stanford).

Natalie McClure, chair for Palo Alto school selections, and committee member, Lori Van Houten, helped supervise the Mad Money afternoon event where the campers try to manage a budget. Each camper received a personal profile which included her job, salary, marital status, and children. Campers had to make tough decisions to make ends meet as they visited tables staffed by AAUW members for food, transportation, housing, childcare. Staff walked around handing out cards with unexpected expenses and windfalls. At the end of Mad Money, campers decided that children are much too expensive and husbands should pull their weight. Living on ramen or mac and cheese might be in their future if they weren’t careful.

In addition, McClure brought American Chemical Society friends to help on Wednesday night camp week in the University’s Chemistry labs. The campers experimented to determine the amount of Vitamin C in orange juice, lemonade and Red Bull. They prepared a blue color titration reagent from compactable packing “peanuts” and iodine. This reagent turns colorless when it reacts with Vitamin C. As most campers’ first experience in a real chemistry lab, McClure’s conclusion was that “this year’s campers were smart and enthusiastic. No one held back from participating, complained, or had teenage ‘whatever’ vibes.”

This year’s virtual campers were Caitlin Devine (Fletcher); Zitong Wang (JL Stanford); Kiana Chan (Blach); and Alice Finizola de Albuquerque (Crittenden).

Virtual camp started July 20 until Friday night July 25. Each camper received a kit with all the parts needed for their robotics challenge. Each girl designed an individual project including battery power. By the end of the week, the project’s goal was to solve a problem in the camper’s community. Every afternoon and evening the campers checked in for a variety of exciting hands-on workshops in Science, Engineering, Technology, or Math.

Again, much thanks to our generous supporters, including the Mountain View Kiwanis and Los Altos Rotary clubs.