A GeoGirl Makayla Shear, right, currently of Vancouver and formerly of Randle, observes a group activity as her high school mentor, Jessica Mitchem, 17, Toutle, takes notes on Wednesday afternoon inside the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.
For the past five days, a contingent of aspiring and established female scientists has been canvassing the wild ranges of Mount St. Helens in the name of good science.
The team, known as the GeoGirls, consists of 20 middle school age scientists, 10 high school mentors and two local science teachers, as well as an array of kind-faced volunteers with some sort of science background.
As their name implies, all of the participants are women, and that is by design.
The program began last summer as the brainchild of Kate Allstadt, the head coordinator and project leader. Allstadt is a research geophysicist for the U.S. Geological Survey based out of Colorado these days, but she used to work at the Cascades Volcanic Observatory in Vancouver, which is where the project got its legs.
As a joint partnership between the USGS and the Mount St. Helens Institute, the goal of the GeoGirls program is to help nurture a love of science in girls and young women in order to foster the next generation of female scientists. So far, the plan has been working out swimmingly.
“There’s a fresh batch of girls this year but a lot of return volunteers,” noted Allstadt.
She said that there was a notable increase in interest in the program this year and that the group began receiving emails and phone calls from interested parties well in advance of the program dates. In fact, Allstadt noted there were 61 applications turned in for the 20 GeoGirl spots available this year, so the selection process was quite competitive.
The project has encompassed numerous scientific inquiries, including water quality testing, sediment distribution analysis, as well as setting up hidden seismometers and breaking down their logged data. At the end of the program, the girls will compile their findings and post them online, just as they did last year.
“They’re learning about how to communicate their findings, because what good is science if you don’t tell anyone?” asked Allstadt.
This year’s GeoGirls science trek began on Aug. 7 and will conclude Thursday. The GeoGirls hail from all over Washington and Oregon and have been flanked by their team of high school age mentors, local science teachers and an entourage of eager graduate students. The middle school students from Washington came from Ridgefield, Vancouver, Washougal, Brush Prairie, Tacoma, Federal Way and Bellevue.
This year was the first time Lily Randall, 13, Astoria, Oregon, participated in the GeoGirls excursion.
“I heard about it through my science teacher who had a couple students go through it,” explained Randall, who adopted the secret science code name of Shanayenaye for the project. “I’m having the time of my life.”
One of the projects that Randall worked on Wednesday was the placing of seismometers around the pumice hummocks at the base of the mountain, as well as the trails and boat launch near Coldwater Lake and state Highway 504 as it winds its way up toward the Johnston Ridge Observatory.
The GeoGirls contingent spent a night camping out on the northeast side of the mountain in the pumice flats, which would have been serene if not for the relentless rainstorm that came through the area that day. According to Allstadt, the raindrops were so forceful that the recently buried seismometers were recording their impact.
Camping out in the middle of a rainstorm, with no running water and only a composting toilet, was a unique experience for nearly all of the girls, but there was nary a peep of discontent. Instead, the tumultuous conditions brought the group closer together.
Besides the bonding moments, there was serious science to be conducted.
“Our objective today is to figure out road traffic on the way to Johnston Ridge,” including vehicle speed and total volume, explained Christina Phillips, 13, Ridgefield.
Phillips noted that the other seismometer locations were intended to document the popularity of various areas inside the National Volcanic Monument, as well as any earthquakes or rock slides that may happen in the surrounding area.
Part of the task was to pick a good location that would provide solid readings, while also burying the equipment out of sight so that it would not be noticed or tampered with by visitors.
Jessica Mitchem, 17, Toutle, was on hand as a high school mentor to help the GeoGirls accomplish their mission. Mitchem noted that her high school chemistry teacher encouraged his students to apply and, “I decided I would give this one a try.”
“I’m really interested in the outdoors and nature and I thought this would be a good opportunity to gain some new leadership experience,” added Mitchem.
Once she applied, and was eventually selected to participate, Mitchem’s chemistry teacher was ecstatic.
“He was very excited that somebody actually applied,” said Mitchem, who noted that her teacher told her she would be able to “learn a lot about Mount St. Helens and come back to tell the other kids about it.”
The GeoGirls science camp is offered for free through the USGS and Mount St. Helens partnership, as well as a bevy of sponsorships. The way Liz Westby of the USGS sees it, being able to offer the opportunity for free is a huge benefit to the program. By her reasoning, being able to attend the camp regardless of socioeconomic status opens the wide world of science up to all girls and alleviates financial burden on parents.
Westby noted that the small size of the program allows for a lot of one-on-one time between the real world scientists, mentors and the GeoGirls, but it also leaves a lot of aspiring scientists sitting at home instead of traipsing the backcountry with an inquisitive mind.
“It’s a good news, bad news situation,” said Westby. “The good news is that there are an awful lot of people interested and that want to be a part of it. The bad news is that we’ve got to make really tough choices.”
Westby noted that a primary focus of the program is to introduce the exciting parts of science to girls in the hope that they may choose a life of scientific undertaking in their future.
“We’re trying to show them that science is not just rocks and textbooks. … We’re trying to reach girls at an age where they are thinking about their careers and education path,” explained Westby. “We’re hoping that a little bit of a push might help here.”
She noted that GeoGirls is not only interested in developing young geologists and volcanologists, but any young woman interested in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
“As a scientist this has just been a lot of fun because the girls are so clever and they’re so smart,” said Westby.
Sonja Melander, a science education coordinator with the Mount St. Helens Institute, also appreciates the bond between her ilk of female scientists, the graduate students, high school mentors and gaggle of GeoGirls.
She too credited the partnership between the USGS and the Mount St. Helens Institute with making the project go. “Which is great because we have so many women scientists,” said Melander. “They get to work with them and get to know them and see what science is all about. They get to see that we (scientists) are real people and all of them are successful women.”
Melander explained the girls-only focus of the endeavor is critical to its mission.
“It provides a very comfortable environment,” said Melander, who noted the inherent sensitivity and shy characteristics of many middle school age girls. “Geology is changing but it is still a very male dominated field.”
According to Melander, bridging that chasm is where the more experienced female scientists are most valuable through their mentorship and as role models.
“Being able to see scientists as humans is being able to see a little bit of yourself in science, and as being able to be a scientist,” said Melander. “These five days we’re creating intentionally as a support group of female scientists, which is indicative of the fact that we exist.”
Melander said the interplay between each group of girls is vital to the success of the program because it allows each group to work hand in hand with more experienced scientists who are already in the position that the underlings will hopefully fill one day themselves. The middle school girls get to learn from the high school mentors and the high school mentors get to learn from the college graduate students. Likewise the graduate students get to glean experience from the professional scientists.
“At each level you get to think, ‘Well, what do I have to do and how do I get there?’” explained Melander.
That street goes both ways, too, according to Westby. She says that the scientists get as much out of the experience as the students.
“We’re all GeoGirls!” beamed Westby. “For us it’s been really fun to see what other lady scientists are doing.”
The other worldly setting of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument is an aspect that should not go overlooked in the GeoGirls project. Of course science can be undertaken anywhere, but conducting experiments in the shadow of an active volcano certainly adds a helpful element of intrigue.
“I’ve been working here for a few years and I’m still awed by it. I can not think of a more phenomenal place,” said Melander.
Westby noted that part of the USGS mission is to educate people about the presence and processes of the active volcano. She said that bringing a team full of exuberant young scientists into the field is a boon to that mission.
“It’s a fun place to go. It’s a beautiful place to visit but it is an active volcano,” said Westby.
She added that the landscape provides ample opportunity to explore a vast array of scientific endeavors and to observe unique and quickly changing ecosystems that are few and far between elsewhere.
“It has it all in a very compact area,” noted Westby.
Addtional information on the GeoGirls, including study results and program applications, can be found online at http://www.mshslc.org/volcanic-explorations/youth-programs/geogirls/.
