Tetra Tech Staff Help with STEM Day in Vallejo, California

On Sunday, June 14, more than 40 girls in Vallejo, California, worked with science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) professionals to learn about water and water conservation. Tetra Tech’s Jean Michaels and Katie Henry helped with activities and gave each girl a copy of Tetra Tech’s book, Future Engineering: The Clean Water Challenge, to take home.

The Girls in STEM Day was the third event organizers Fary Koh and Natalie Kidder of Benicia, California, have held to get girls in grades two through six interested in STEM subjects. Jean, a project manager and environmental engineer, and Katie, a project manager and ecologist, volunteered to assist the girls during hands-on activities.

Second through fourth grade students simulated water treatment to learn about how wetlands and water treatment plants work to clean water. They put dirty water through aeration, coagulation, sedimentation, and filtration. The fifth and sixth grade students built miniature water towers out of one-gallon plastic jugs and experimented to see how different tubing sizes affected water flow.

“We used some of the illustrations from the Future Engineering: The Clean Water Challenge book during discussion to illustrate principles from the activities, including the water cycle,” Katie said.

Fary and Natalie expect to have a fourth Girls in STEM Day in Vallejo this fall.