DETROIT – Dozens of young girls rushed to a test track in a hallway at the University of Detroit-Mercy in hopes of creating a winning robot. Kaili Berry smiled as she returned to her desk to make some changes. But unlike most thirteen-year-old girls, she has been anticipating all summer the robotics competition at the end of the week. At Camp Infinity, during the last week of July, girls like Berry enjoyed an interactive, hands-on experience, while working with other young women in teams to build robots that they programmed.

This was the tenth edition of a girl?s only summer camp that sells out each year. This very in-demand program, which introduces technology as fun and inspires the pursuit of technology education, consistently carries a long waiting list. It is underwritten by the Michigan Council for Women in Technology through member and partner donations that enable 50 girls to participate each year. Robotics is just one aspect of this camp. These fourth through seventh graders also designed web sites, apps, and created video games throughout the week-long program.

Julie Patterson has been involved with running Camp Infinity for several years during her off-season from the GET-IT Girls program at Ferndale University. GET-IT also is sponsored by MCWT. The GET-IT stands for Girls Exploring Together Information Technology. It is an after-school team activity designed to encourage high school girls to consider and ultimately pursue a career in information technology.

In fact, many of the teenage girls who are part of the GET-IT program serve as counselors during Camp Infinity. Alexis Thompson, 18, is in her third year as a volunteer. She is proof that programs like this attract more women to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). She loved mentoring and leading the young girls at the camp and is has been trying to patent a robot that she programmed there a year ago. She believes it is critical for young girls to understand all the options they have for careers in technology. Leaders of the GET-IT program and MCWT are proud Thompson will be attending the University of Michigan this fall to study Mechanical Engineering.

Patterson, the camp director, said that this year she has found a lot of success in the App Inventor program, which was just added to the curriculum.

?If you know a teenage or high school women who is interested in technology and you are not sure to send them, check out MIT App Inventor,? she said. ?The tutorials they have online are very good and it is a free program that provides results.?

She believes that the, “best part of the camp is seeing the end result. It is amazing what girls this young are able to accomplish. Each year they are getting stronger and smarter. This year the girls got through the HTML curriculum so fast, that they added CSS to the program last minute. The parents? feedback is overwhelmingly positive, but they want access to more programs like this for their young girls.?

Programs like Camp Infinity are growing as women professionals in technology are engaging young girls in conversations much earlier than before about possible STEM careers. Women tech professionals also are finding new ways to tie these programs into their schools and to their communities.

Thanks to Patterson , Thompson, many volunteers and the commitment of the MCWT Foundation, girls like Berry who have developed a love for robotics can also experience a week full of fun and technology with like-minded young women. At Camp Infinity these girls flooded the hallways at Detroit-Mercy, but someday these young women will be graduating to careers in technology.

If they pursue those careers with the passion they did during their week at Camp Infinity, then programs like this will definitely make a positive change in the IT workforce.

Find more information about the camp and the organization at MCWT.Org

Additionally, information on the App Inventor program is available at AppInventor.MIT.Edu