Alexa Chavez-Shinmori, Deetra Kalen and Avery Peterson of Los Gatos and Saratoga's Clara Wang were chosen from a pool of candidates to receive scholarships from the association. The scholarships allow the students to attend the weeklong Tech Trek Science Camp at Stanford University next month.

More than 100 girls will gather at Stanford July 13­19 to take core classes in the morning and go on field trips and listen to special speakers in the afternoon, "all promoting women in math and science," said Linda Hagelin, Tech Trek coordinator for the Los Gatos­Saratoga branch of the association.

Hagelin recently spoke with a student who had attended Tech Trek five years ago; she just recently graduated from Los Gatos High School and is going on to Stanford. According to Hagelin, this camp alumna and others share the same memories of the experience. "It appears from all angles that this is one of the most fun and exciting things that they've ever done," Hagelin said. "They found out, 'Wow, there's lots of ways to use math and science.' "

Wang is an incoming eighth grader at Redwood Middle School. "I like biology," Wang said, although she does not know if science is her favorite subject. Wang's teacher at Redwood nominated her for the Tech Trek scholarship, and she said when she heard she was one of the winners, her reaction was, "Yay!"

"It will be fun, but it'll also be a lot of work," Wang said. The core classes that she signed up for were bacteriology and geometry. Although Wang said her future profession is undecided, "in any career, you probably have to have some kind of science and mathematical background."

Peterson and Kalen are friends and classmates at C.T. English Middle School. Peterson's sister had gone to Tech Trek last year—"She told me that it was a lot of fun and she didn't want me missing out on it this year," Peterson said. "Science and math are my favorite subjects."

Peterson also told Kalen about the camp, and it piqued her interest immediately. "I like marine biology a lot," Kalen said. "I also like making friends from other areas and stuff because you can have pen pals."

When both were selected to receive scholarships, "that made it easier because I knew someone who was going," Peterson said.

Fisher Middle School's Chavez-Shinmori was nominated by teacher Clyde Laird. Chavez-Shinmori, now an eighth-grader, said she hadn't heard of Tech Trek before her nomination, but when she was awarded the scholarship, "I was really excited. I heard it's going to be really, really fun."

Chavez-Shinmori, whose favorite class is science, chose the core classes of bacteriology and marine biology.

According to Hagelin, the local branch of the association has been offering these scholarships for five years, at first only to one girl. The association picks up $600 of camp costs, asking parents to pay for the remaining $50. The girls, Hagelin said, "don't necessarily have to be at the top of their class," but were nominated by their teachers.

A group of candidates were chosen in an initial screening and were interviewed as a group. "We just chat with the girls," Hagelin said.

"It was a little nerve-wracking, but I'm glad I did it," Peterson said. Peterson met girls from other schools and said she enjoyed talking to the different people at the interview.

Acceptance letters were mailed out in April, and a July 9 Tech Trek fundraiser is planned from 1 to 4 p.m. at The Terraces in Los Gatos.

"It really is a special program—if you have enthusiastic instructors and enthusiastic girls," Hagelin said.

Peterson is evidently one of those enthusiastic girls. "I just want to make new friends and learn more about science," she said.

For more information about the July 9 fundraiser, call Louise Quenon at 408.867.0698.