The Girls Tend To Stick Together
The girls tend to stick together. Last year, for instance, when Michaela Brant founded the Space Cookies with 11 girls from seven high schools in California’s Santa Clara County, she got backing from the local Girl Scout council. The council created a troop for the robo-girls and funded it. The Space Cookies went on to win top rookie honors at the Silicon Valley Regional and traveled to the national competition last year. For 2007, the Space Cookies team includes 15 girls from 11 San Francisco Bay area high schools.
The Space Cookies also share with other robo-girls. When Presentation High School, of San Jose, wanted to start an all-girl robotics team, the Space Cookies provided mentors and equipment parts to launch the Invasion team in 2007. Francesca Lomotan, a senior on the team, recruited 32 girls from within her all-girl school.
At this year’s Silicon Valley Regional, three of the all-girl teams advanced to the elimination rounds. The Royal Robotrons of Louisville High School in Woodland Hills, Calif., began in the seventh slot, the highest seed among the all-girl teams. They picked the all-boy Cheesypoofs of Bellarmine College Preparatory, in San Jose, and the all-girl Fembots of St. Francis High School as their alliance partners. The all-girl Gatorbotics, from Palo Alto’s Castilleja School, accepted an invitation to join the sixth-seeded alliance of two coed teams.