Girls Inc. celebrates the power of STEM at Colorado Energy Day

DENVER — On a sunny Saturday right outside City Park, you could find anything from robots to solar technology. It was all for Colorado Energy Day.

This year marked the sixth annual Colorado Energy Day, a family-friendly event celebrating Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The event aims to inspire and help children and young adults understand the many career opportunities available in the STEM field.

One of the many booths set up at the event was hosted by Girls Inc. of Metro Denver. This local chapter of the national organization provides before and after school educational programs for girls and gender non-conforming youth. Girls Inc. offers many STEM programs, such as sheep brain dissection, robotics, aviation and opportunities to work with professionals at the Denver Botanic Gardens and Lockheed Martin’s Denver office.

Blair Zaid, the manager of STEM Careers and Success at Girls Inc Metro Denver, said Girls Inc “takes the whole girl approach.”

“[We want] to make sure every girl in our program is strong, smart, and bold,” said Zaid.

Girls Inc. provides programming in over 60 cities across Colorado. Nationwide, it has more than 80 affiliates. Currently, the Denver chapter holds a little over 2,000 students.

This year’s theme for Girls Inc. was “Where will your energy take you?” The guests could interact with batteries at their booth and use the electrical current in the human body to produce energy. They also provided STEM widgets, like Rubik's Cubes, for the kids to play with.

Colorado Energy Day also included its third annual Kendrick Castillo Memorial Robotics Challenge, where over 30 high schools participated by showing off their engineering and robotics skills. Each team had the opportunity to win a $2,000 scholarship. The challenge is named after Kendrick Castillo, who died in a 2019 shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch.

To learn more about Energy Day’s education resources, visit this link.