‘She 4 Me’ builds confidence

On April 23 at the Chino campus, a group of nearly 150 girls between the ages of 8 and 18 along with their mentors came together for the fourth annual She 4 Me conference, planned by Chaffey College's Economic Development and Community Education departments.

The event began with breakfast at 8 a.m. and continued until 3 p.m. The girls were separated into groups and taken to eight different workshops where they were encouraged by speakers to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. It was an opportunity for them to be enriched and enlightened.

During the lunch portion, keynote speaker Mary Ann Melleby delivered a speech titled, "I Have Confi dence." Melleby instructed the girls to have confidence and set goals for themselves. Either a Chaffey College Ambassador or a volunteer led each group from workshop to workshop and booth to booth. All the while, attendees got to collect prizes and learn about things that were both fascinating and informative.

A few of the workshops the girls attended included Entomology, a lecture on insects, followed by an opportunity for participants to actually hold a tarantula and other live creatures.

The STAR Lab workshop had participants crawl into a large inflated cave with a projection of the galaxy on the inside, learning about careers in astronomy.  Tech Explorers had one group spend three hours making their own mini catapults, which they got to take home with them.

When the science based events were done, groups also were given the opportunity to work out with a Zumba fitness  instructor.  The young women and their mentors ended the day by taking part in a raffle, with prizes donated  by local businesses.

 Vanessa Hua, a mentor, thought She 4 Me was a great source of education for girls. "What a paradigm for girls who know nothing else than what they have been exposed to. [It was an] amazing event to introduce topics to girls who need to know about [such things as] breast cancer awareness, teen dating and career opportunities." Hua said.