Artondale Elementary School girls get ‘nerdy’

Nate Hulings

of the Gateway

Fingers click on a keyboard, constructing the building blocks of Web sites. Heads snap back and forth between the HTML code on their screens and the directions on the board.

If the thought of a nerd holed up in a computer lab comes to mind, remember they can also be beautiful and confident, said Mary Savage, program leader of Nerd Girls at Artondale Elementary School in Gig Harbor.

For one hour every Wednesday before school, 12 fifth-grade girls shed stereotypes and take part in Nerd Girls, a global program with positive reinforcement.

The goal of last week’s class was to continue designing personal Web sites. While Savage teaches the basic coding language, each girl constructs her own content and photos to place on their page.

Kara Ashpole’s site proudly claims, “I love Nerd Girls” and “Wednesday mornings are my very favorite time of the week.”

“I like working on computers, and I want to have my own Web page,” Ashpole said.

From squeaks of excitement to growls of disapproval, each girl goes through the learning curves of trial and error. When she got an image of a heart to appear on her page, Aubrie Guenther, 10, let out a cry of excitement.

“I got it to work! I got it to work!” she said.

When a friend who was sitting next to her had difficulty getting her image to place, Guenther quickly worked to find the problem.

“Oh my gosh, I know why!” Guenther exclaimed as she reminded the other girl about saving in a different file format.

Constantly monitoring and instructing the girls, Savage’s goal is to provide positive support each step of the way.

“Tell me what questions you have, tell me what problems you have,” she told the class after she explained how to place images into HTML format.

When she saw the improvement of one student’s page, Savage said, “It worked beautifully. Awesome!”

Savage, who holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Brigham Young University, said her classes 20 years ago were about 10 percent female — a statistic she said remains fairly constant.

“This is such a problem,” Savage said. “We really need scientists and engineers.”

The idea to start a Nerd Girls program at Artondale began last spring when the Peninsula School District faced budget cuts and had to terminate the Highly Capable pullout program at the school.

“It was a great opportunity to see what I could contribute,” Savage said. “I know technology, and I know girls, so it felt like a good fit.”

Savage then contacted Tufts University professor Dr. Karen Panetta, founder of Nerd Girls, to see if she could start a program at Artondale.

Panetta agreed, and now Artondale has the only elementary school-aged Nerd Girls group in the country.

Getting young girls excited about math and science is paramount to bucking the trend of a male-dominated field, Savage said. Elementary school is “the perfect time,” she added.

“You don’t have the fall-off with the math and the science,” Savage said.

The goal of Nerd Girls boils down to simple truths.

“You can be cool, and you can be fashionable and beautiful, but you can do more than that,” Savage said. “ You can contribute a lot to the world.”

And that’s what Savage tries to communicate every Wednesday morning. She tries to promote a positive message to her group of fifth-graders regarding math and science.

“You know what? You’re great. Let’s go for it,” she said.

Maya Savage, Mary’s daughter, learns the lesson plan prior to the class so she can help fellow Nerd Girls.

“I like it because I want to do what my mom does,” Maya said. “It’s cool and interesting.”

Her personal Web site includes a list of activities she enjoys, as well as Christmas present requests.

Without Nerd Girls, students like Maya likely wouldn’t be learning this type of Web coding at her age.

The program runs through the end of the semester, when fourth-grade girls will get their turn.

Savage said she’ll retain some of the fifth-graders to help assist.

Lesson plans this semester include classes on JavaScript, math and circuits, and Web photo albums.