Online Optimism
So we didn’t really talk about which questions you wanted to do. So I figured maybe you could do the intro, and then I could say thanks for joining us. Yeah, you can ask the first question. I’ll ask the first question, and then we’ll just go back and forth. So why are the reason why we do just three questions is when we did like five to ten questions and the conversation went for about an hour.

So we do three questions like in the structure, but then we can veer off and if you want to talk more about something We can do that and just let it go wherever the conversation goes This is about highlighting you and understanding more about electric girls. So I Was gonna say the end we’re gonna open the floor to you as well to

talk about it, if you want to talk about it, say hey, go follow us on social media, or check out our website, or whatever, whatever. So you’ll definitely have time to do that at the end as well. Perfect, so I’m gonna say thanks for joining us, how are ya, and then I’m gonna jump into the first question, but feel free to say good things and then we can get started. Okay, all right, Kat, I’m starting right now. Well thanks for joining us, how are you?

Moira Glace
I’m good, thank you for having me.

Online Optimism
I was so happy to have you here. So let’s just jump right into it. How did Electric Girls get started? Tell us about that.

Moira Glace
Electric Girls was founded in 2015 when Floor, our founder, was the only girl in the vital sound recording at Loyola. She was a student at the time and basically she kind of had that experience of like people thinking she was an assistant or talking over her when she was like really leading the team and she was the only girl. So that kind of posed the question to her of why there weren’t more women in that field and then it became kind of like her senior thesis

wanted to solve a problem. And she ended up kind of making the beginning of what is ElectraGirl Summer Camp. And the first summer camp in 2015 was just six girls. And from there, it’s grown each year. And we always have the feedback of the campers too, or we’ve done fall programming, we’ve started doing year round programming, so we like to get feedback because we wanna make sure that we’re doing what the kids are interested in.

because that’s how you really can retain them for longer. So we’ve done that. And one thing that’s always been awesome that I always like to highlight that Floor, when she was making our organization as at least 50% are always on full scholarship. So we wanna make sure it’s equitable for everyone. And if we can do more, we try. So that’s where donations always come in. I can’t not plug something like that as a nonprofit.

But yeah, it was just kind of someone’s observation and wanting to make a change. And over the last few years, we’ve definitely grown a lot. And we love getting these letters from like college applicants saying like, how much this camp when they were eight made an impact and they’re going off to school or we’re writing college recommendation letters for these girls as they go off and study STEM. And actually two of them are coming back as instructors for our summer camp this year.

which is fun and I’ve loved watching them grow up and now I get to like run payroll on them. So I’m excited about that. So that’s, yeah.

Online Optimism
that.

Online Optimism
Yeah, I was going to ask how many of the, if you keep track with the campers and see how many of them like move on to like actually go into careers in this. So is it, are most of the campers people, like girls who just kind of like have like a fledgling interest or they want, so it’s like, I want to be an engineer. Yeah, and sorry, can I just step back also and just say, could you give us a little bit more insight about like the mission of Electric Girls and, and who it is you serve and where you serve and all of that type of thing, just so that we have a.

Moira Glace
It is, I…

Online Optimism
base level.

Moira Glace
Yeah, within Electricals, we really serve mostly the New Orleans area. But there’s definitely girls who come from like, Chau Mat or Slide Out, like they’re willing to do the drive. And I honestly feel like I’ve been with organizations since 2016. There is a good mix of interests because some kids are sent to our programs because their parents are interested in it. Some of them come in really hyped. And I love that it’s a mix of all of them.

And they come from so many different school districts too, which I find really important because, you know, when you are interested in something and maybe all your friend groups in your school aren’t, you might not stick with it. But as long as you have like a friend or two that is hyped about it, and we see this happen every single session too. And I love seeing, you know, them posting on Instagram with like friends from different schools and projects that they’ve worked on. But I definitely.

Girls come in with interest, girls don’t. And what I love about the ones who come in without the interest is really making sure they understand that STEM really isn’t everything at this point. And I think the word STEM sometimes for girls, they think it’s more for boys. They’re like science, tech and everything. And well, there’s so many different fields that have STEM like fashion tech. I love

making them realize that, or even the science of making makeup, where you might think it doesn’t suit you, it does. And also we emphasize public speaking too. At the end of all of our sessions, we always do a demo day where the girls present their creations.

so they can explain to families, friends, and their other campers what went into it. And sometimes their projects don’t work, and that is A-OK. And that’s where you have to fail to succeed. And that is something that everyone needs to feel in everything in life. So it’s really teaching that. But with Demo Day, they get up and speak and.

Moira Glace
pitch their projects. So even if they don’t go in STEM, there’s still that entrepreneur spirit, too. There’s that confidence that we try to build into them that they can do whatever they want. And one thing I failed to mention was we actually start as young as the age of five. So we do have five-year-olds going up there, showing projects that they’ve created. And we teach the foundations of soldering, coding, woodworking, and everything.

starting at five. And you’d think that it would be a little dangerous. They’re a little more carefree with the hot glue guns. They’re very, very cautious with the soldering. So that’s where a lot of people think that five-year-olds can’t, but they can. So those are some.

Online Optimism
So do kids get to come in, when kids come in, are you like, okay, you’re going to learn each of these skills and then you get to spend more time on which one you liked the most or like, so say someone comes in and they’re like, oh, I’m really interested in makeup, are you going to put them specifically on activities that would revolve around that interest or do they have to like get all the interests?

Moira Glace
We do teach the foundation, so that is a general thing. But knowing what they’re interested in, we can start to kind of explore for their personal projects and stuff. We always encourage them to bring stuff from home, too. So if they have a stuffed animal they want to light up or something like that, they’re more than welcome to. With our summer camp this year, we’re actually having themes, too.

So the very first half of our day will be focused on those. And then the second half is those more specific projects, more of those core foundations. And this year, we’re doing sessions with environmental science and food science. Environmental science is definitely like, because we always do surveys at the beginning and the end of all of our sessions. So we know like where our girls’ interests lie. At the beginning, at the end,

how they feel more confident. So those are two subjects that have definitely been brought up that our girls want to learn about. I think it comes as no surprise that our youth are very interested in the environmental science. And I think food science goes hand in hand with it too. So I’m super excited to see what happens this summer, what they create.

Online Optimism
What is the oldest age that you serve?

Moira Glace
Currently we serve up to 13, but some of our girls stay and then they can volunteer with us or mentor. There’s other ways that we try to keep them involved. We’re kind of always shifting each year with that.

Online Optimism
Yeah, 13 year old Nira would have loved to go to a science camp to specifically learn environmentalism. I did morning announcements about how you can help the environment in junior high. So I’m a little jealous of all these kids.

Moira Glace
Mm-hmm.

Moira Glace
And I hear that so often too. Like whenever like people come to like our open house to learn about our programming, the parents are just like, oh man, I wish I had that. And even like the college students who might be working with us over the summer, they were like, man, I wish it would be that. So it’s exciting, particularly for the two campers who are now coming back as instructors to see how that does impact them. I mean, I wish I had this camp too, so.

Online Optimism
And I think it’s really important. Yeah. Like, I was very interested in the sciences growing up, and then in high school I just had some not great teachers that made me think I wasn’t good at these things. So then I went to college and I pursued a liberal arts degree. And I think that if I had something like this that filled the gaps that the public education system was missing, it could have made a difference.

Moira Glace
Yeah, I have a very similar experience, and that’s something that I wanted to bring up a little bit later, but like, have you ever heard of the Scully effect?

Online Optimism
No.

Moira Glace
Okay, the Scully effect is particularly women. Yes, from the X-Files is girls who grew up watching Scully and they actually, there was like a little bump in women entering in STEM. Of course it went down, unfortunately. And I was obsessed with the X-Files growing up. And I remember when it’d be an FBI and I remember the interest in STEM, but then around middle school, it’s like, that’s when it can deter you. And it happened to me and.

Online Optimism
Oh, from the X-Files? Yes!

Moira Glace
It took me until I was an adult and I just had, I worked in a very masculine industry to then have enough men be like, you’re bad at computers. And I was like, you know what, you’re right. And I took a coding immersion class because I wanted to prove them wrong and also prove myself that I could do it. And that’s how I actually heard about Electric Girls as the founder floor came and spoke at the coding immersion class that I was taking. And then I started volunteering within the organization.

And then that kind of leads me to where I am with them. Like it’s just grown from there.

Online Optimism
So where did your background start that then led to you working in staff?

Moira Glace
I worked in the film industry for like 10 years. So that’s a very masculine industry. I was more logistics. And that’s kind of what I do within Electra Girls now, is I work with the operations. And I also run our social media and marketing. So I have that creative field as well. So I can’t say that I necessarily had it. I definitely had an interest that I feel like as a young girl. Teachers were like,

your brother’s better at math, you’re not the math person or something like that. And I believed it. I think my experience is similar to yours, unfortunately, but I went back on this track and I really enjoy my time with Electric Girls now.

Online Optimism
Yeah, I think one of the things that I remember growing up also is that science as a child felt very…

applied, like you could, it was very hands-on because everything was hands-on as like an elementary school child, and then as you get older it feels more theoretical, less hands-on, and then you lose that interest because it doesn’t really feel like it’s applied to you. And I think what it seems like you all do is really bring everything hands-on. So it’s all like this is how you can do it and this is how it could work in the real world and all of that. Is that kind of accurate?

Moira Glace
100%. And I think also with our age groups too, we have them from like five to seven, eight to 10, 11 to 13. So the importance of dividing it within those developmental age groups too, because you don’t want to bore someone or put someone too far in advance and intimidate them to not stick with it. And that’s where really just asking for the feedback is important too. Because we want to make sure that what they’re learning is interesting. And also like.

show how to intersect with everything. I’m a big component. I know a lot of people like to say steam now. And I’m like, no, STEM is artistic. You don’t need to add the art to it because it makes it feel like, I get that it’s supposed to make you feel less intimidated, but STEM is so artistic. You just have to switch your brain or realize it. And that’s how whenever I took my coding immersion class for the first two weeks, I was like, I’m dumb. I don’t know what any of this means. But then whenever…

something switched in my brain that I was like, oh, it’s not math like I thought it was, which yes, there’s elements, but it just felt like a language. I was like, oh, I can learn a language. And as soon as like it’s something, every single person has that ability. You just have to be patient enough to learn that person. And we take the time, our classes are smaller, so we can learn what each girl’s language is. Just how to translate it. So it…

they have that aha click moment. And then from there, the confidence is there. So it’s just, you gotta make sure that you take that time in the beginning, and then also with that, what are they interested in and link it back.

Online Optimism
Can I say that I always feel like it’s on the flip side. So my background is also in film. I have a film degree from U of L. And I went into it being like, yeah, this is gonna be creative and arts. And then there’s so much math and science. There is so much in film and even in marketing. Like I, I complain all the time, I do so much math. And I specifically didn’t want a career with math. And it’s like, as much as the STEM subjects,

are their own arts. A lot of art is STEM. It is math and science.

Moira Glace
We’re actually having, with our first environmental science, Alex Beard, the local artist, is coming and he has math elements in his art. So he’s gonna be speaking with all of our Pampers just so they understand that crossover. So we’re excited about that.

Online Optimism
Yeah.

So can I ask you how you think that women being underrepresented in STEM impacts science as a whole?

Moira Glace
There are so many answers. It’s hard to figure out where to start, but I think it’s really important is, I think just diversity and representation in general is so important because unfortunately, if you don’t have that live life experience, you might not think that something needs to be invented or needs to be created. And then also just like the diversification of like,

life experiences you bring into creating and also how we would use products and stuff. And that’s one of the great things about having 15 girls in the same classroom, and they’re building their projects separately, but we present badges at the end as well. So it’s really our instructors are taking note.

on where each girl is thriving. They’re all gonna get one. We’re not gonna not give one to them, but it’s just like, they’re soft skills and hard skills that we give them for. And one of them is mentorship. So it’s, you know, making sure that they’re all kind of like lifting each other up. But yeah, some of the ideas, you know, that one kid has, they might not have thought of, and then they create something new. I think there’s such…

limitations by limiting who has access to those jobs. And I think there’s so many things that have yet to be invented that I can’t even think of. Like in 10 years time, like think of 10 years ago and how much has changed. It’s going to change even more in 10 years. And the only way to make sure they’re really taking off is to make sure that everyone is represented.

when creating these things. That answers the question.

Online Optimism
Yeah, I mean you think about NASA and how so many of their accomplishments wouldn’t have happened without women, and particularly women of color in the room doing the math and the science. It’s like endless opportunities for those examples too. Yeah.

Moira Glace
Yeah, and I think with kids too, it’s so important to see the women who are part of it. And that’s one of the great things is at least people are now kind of writing books about it and sharing it. And during our camps and any of our other programming, we definitely talk about other women who look like them and make sure that they see that they’re around. And of all different ages, too, all of our classrooms are actually named after different women in STEM.

too, so they can be walking into a space and see someone off the bat. And that kind of goes back to the Scully effect, is just seeing one person, but within the classroom, too. Single sex environments. I went to a women’s college, and there’s definitely something where you get this relaxed vibe of learning. You speak up a little bit more. There’s enough studies with that, too. And that’s what makes Electra Girls in New Orleans.

a little different is we’re the only like, just focusing on girls or anyone who identifies as non-binary or girls can attend our camp. So making sure it’s kind of like a safe space for them to feel. Actually the start of each day we take our temperatures, we introduce a tool of the day and we talk about that, but we also like say like how we’re feeling and we don’t expect everyone to come in.

out of 10. So then we do the average of what that is. And that actually was an idea that started the first summer camp with six girls. Like one of the campers gave that feedback. It’s like, I’m not always in a great mood and that’s fine. And that’s realistic for the work world too. So it’s just like, okay, we know this. We’ll meet you where you’re at for the day and work from there.

Online Optimism
We might have to… I was just thinking that. I would love to start my team every day with like, all right, everyone, scale one to 10, how you feeling? And then find the average.

Moira Glace
Yeah. And we do that too. As the year round admin team, we take, like we call it PBA, just like, you know, our personal temperature, our business temperature, and like our health temperature for the week too. So like we even ask year round. So that’s like an idea, like the perfect example of like a kid thought of it. It’s now part of our programming, even within our like weekly meetings, we use that for ourselves too.

Online Optimism
Yeah.

Online Optimism
Yeah, that’s genius. Well, perfect. I know we’re gonna wrap up soon, but I was wondering if you could maybe give like a very brief elevator pitch for Electric Girls to someone who’s never heard of it or someone who may be interested in it but just doesn’t know anything about it.

Moira Glace
Uh, oops. Sorry, I’m drawing a blank. Give me one second.

Online Optimism
Oh, no problem.

Moira Glace
Electric Girls was founded with the idea of making sure that STEM education is accessible to all girls within the New Orleans area. We start at the age of five and go to 13 and we teach STEM skills relating to robotics, coding, woodworking, soldering. We make sure that the girls leave more confident than they came in, more confident than when they came in on these skills.

and that they can actually go home and teach their parents the skills as well.

Online Optimism
Beautiful. Thank you. Yeah.

Moira Glace
and hopefully have a career within STEM if that’s where they see themselves.

Moira Glace
part.

Online Optimism
Awesome. Alright, well, thanks so much for joining us Moira. If someone wanted to connect with you or Electric Girls on social media, where would they do that?

Moira Glace
On social media, we’re Electric Girls ED on all of Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. And our website is electricgirls.org.

Online Optimism
Awesome, well thanks much for joining us. I really learned a lot. Thank you so much Moira. Is there anything else you wanted to put out there before we kind of wrap up here?

Moira Glace
Okay. Thank you.

Moira Glace
Sorry, I didn’t, it cut out for a second, what?

Online Optimism
I said, is there anything else you wanted to put out there before we wrap up?

Moira Glace
Oh, just that our summer camp, while we start on June 6, we still have open enrollment for our second, third, and fourth sessions. And that wraps up August 5th. We will have fall programming, most likely robotics. So just like keep an eye out, subscribe to our newsletter, which you can find on our website. We will be having year-round programming. So just keep an eye out.

Online Optimism
Well, thank you so much Moira and really appreciate you coming on and we learned a lot and we will definitely share that with you.

Moira Glace
Thank you.

Online Optimism
Great. Have a good one. Casper’s gonna stop the recording.