Nearly 80 Windsor and Essex County girl guides spent the end of their March break building bridges, circuits, and water filters at the University of Windsor.

The full day of activities March 16 at UWindsor’s fourth annual Girl Guide Badge Day earned the girls badges for engineering, science, and water.

“We learned if you attach two wires on a circuit to a lightbulb in a certain way, it lights up,” said Genevieve Bulmer, a Grade 5 student. “We also got to build a whole bridge. It was fun.”

Bulmer’s group designed a popsicle stick bridge that successfully held the weight of a mini hydrogen car as it drove across. The groups also conducted a chemical analysis, extracted DNA from a banana, and performed a water quality test using filters they built with water bottles.

“Our student volunteers genuinely enjoy mentoring these young women and we hope that the participants enjoy the activities and team-building exercises,” said Jennifer Johrendt, the Faculty of Engineering’s assistant dean of student affairs. “We hope that many of these young ladies will consider pursuing STEM-related studies like engineering in the future.”

Girl Guide Badge Day is organized by the University of Windsor's Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Science and sponsored in part by the Ontario Network of Women in Engineering and Let’s Talk Science.

View photos from the event on the UWindsor Engineering Facebook Page.

—Kristie Pearce