THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9602280151
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY REBECCA A. MYERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
About a week after holding a career fair that encouraged girls to seek professions in science and technology, Linda Koutoufas received the following note from a young female student:
Dear Mrs. Koutoufas,
I think I found what I want to do with my life. I never would have thought about engineering if you hadn't put on this program. Now I want to be an engineer.
The note serves as inspiration to Koutoufas, who is organizing a similar event called ``Girls Can Too!'' from 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturday at Waters Middle School, 600 Roosevelt Blvd.
``It is a conference to get girls interested in math and science and to keep them interested even when they come to some higher level courses that might be a little more difficult,'' said Koutoufas, a Virginia Beach third-grade teacher.
More than 100 girls in grades six through 12 are expected to attend the free program, co-sponsored by the Portsmouth Branch of American Association of University Women (AAUW) and Delta Kappa Gamma (Gamma and Gamma Rho chapters).
``Nationwide, girls do not show up in your higher level math and science courses as much as boys do,'' said Koutoufas, an AAUW member who also teaches workshops on gender equity. ``I do know that it's getting better in math, but girls are still lagging behind in science.''
Girls have traditionally been conditioned to avoid risks, said Koutoufas, so they may opt to take easier courses.
``Sometimes girls may have the ability to take the classes, but perhaps they don't want to jeopardize an `A' average they might have.
``Maybe it's a product of the way they've been brought up, but also some things that happen in the classroom keep girls from taking risks in those courses,'' she said.
``There's a big debate as to whether it's genetic or it's environment. I would think that it's a combination of both, but it really doesn't matter. Once you find that it's happening, you need to do something about it.''
During three morning workshops, scheduled between 10 a.m. and noon, the girls will be introduced to professional women whose careers involve math and science.
The professionals include a dentist, a teacher who has worked in paleontology, a scientist from Newport News, an assistant wildlife manager from the refuge at Dismal Swamp, an oceanographer from Old Dominion University and someone to talk about careers in engineering.
``The presenters will hopefully be doing hands-on experiments,'' said Koutoufas. ``Some of them will be showing slides, they will be bringing equipment that they work with, they might be showing videos on the VCR or they'll be doing combinations of things.''
Parents and educators also are invited to the conference, which will include seminars on college financial aid and equal treatment for girls in the classroom.
A free bus service, offered to and from the conference, will leave on the following schedule:
Bus 1 will leave Cradock Middle School at 7:55 a.m.; Tower Mall's main entrance at 8:05 a.m.; and Wilson High School at 8:20 a.m.
Bus 2 will leave Norcom High School at 7:50 a.m.; Hunt-Mapp Middle School at 8 a.m.; Port Norfolk Elementary at 8:10 a.m.; and Ebenezer Baptist Church at 8:20 a.m.
Bus 3 will leave Churchland Middle School at 8 a.m. and Churchland Elementary at 8:15 a.m.
Students will leave Waters Middle School around 12:10 p.m. and be returned to their original pick-up locations.
Call 488-2457 for information. by CNB