CLASSROOM: Science Club for girls boosts self-esteem

Before last weekend, Zoe Smith had no idea monkeys could be used as helpers in the home.
Of course, that was before the Newton chapter of the Science Club for Girls kicked off their season on Saturday at the Myrtle Baptist Church. There, 12-year-old Smith, a four-year veteran of the club, saw a monkey in action.
``They actually brought in a monkey and taught us that these monkeys are trained to help you do the things that you need and to know what you want,'' she said. ``If you somehow get paralyzed or you're not be able to move around the house like you used to be able to, people use monkeys, and people that are blind used dogs and things like that.''
The monkeys were brought in by Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled, a national nonprofit focused on serving people with severe spinal cord injuries by providing the highly trained animals. Stephanie Lemnios, coordinator for the Science Club for Girls Newton site, said the monkeys showed the girls how different parts of nature can come together.
``They work with severely handicapped people, and they are their arms and their legs,'' she said. ``These monkeys are taught to get something out of the refrigerator for them, and also make life easier for them. It's to teach them that through science, this is jus another avenue that research has been done to help handicapped people.''
The Science Club for Girls helps to increase self confidence and science literacy for girls in kindergarten through 12th grade. Providing a variety of programs, activities, and experiments, the club helps cater to the needs of girls interested in science.
``The girls come and do hands on science projects, and the people who they work with are in the biotech industry, and we also have women who are college students who are going for their master's or their Ph.D,'' said Lemnios. ``It can be everything from teaching the younger girls some basic things about the human body to a new program where the seventh- and eighth-grade girls are going to make rube Goldberg machines, which is just teaching them the really engineering part.''
With about 25 members at the Newton site, now in its fourth year, Lemnios is looking to expand, and hopefully recruit girls form the Waltham area. ``We're really looking to grow that sight, to reach out to the neighboring communities,'' she said.
The club is free to join, Lemnios said, as the main goal is to not discriminate against a family's financial situation. Meetings are at the Myrtle Baptist Church on Saturdays, with the first official meeting landing on September 22. The kickoff event, Lemnios said, was meant to get new girls interested and prior members to come back.
Meckila Britt, 12, of Ashland, has been a member of the Newton site for three years, and has loved every minute of it.
``It certainly is a lot of fun,'' said Britt, who enjoys all of the club's activities. ``Actually, I have multiple ones. My favorite would have to be robotics.''
And in terms of Saturday's events, she loved seeing how people and animals can interact and help one another.
``I thought it was really fascinating that monkeys or animals can help people that are disabled in ways that we couldn't imagine,'' she said.
What's more, once the girls reach their freshman year in high school, they can actually assist the teachers in the club, and help out the other members. In December, girls in that age range will undergo a training seminar to help them understand what careers are available to them in science.
This year, Newton resident Taylor Houston will be a junior assistant after four years as a member.
``I'm going to be helping Kindergarten through second (grade) with their experiments,'' said Houston, 13. ``I just get to help them with their experiments and talk with them about what they know about science and doing experiments, and help the people who are actually teaching the experiment lesson.''
And like both Smith and Britt, Houston says the club gives her the chance to work one her true passions.
``I love science,'' Houston said. ``It's just so fun to learn different things about the world and everything and how things work and why things happen and why things don't happen.''
Fore more information on the Science Club for Girls, visit www.scienceclubforgirls.org. More information on Helping Hands can be found at www.helpinghandsmonkeys.org.
Matt Perkins can be reached at 781-398-8009 or at mperkins@cnc.com.