Seabury Middle School: Ada Lovelace Day

Gifted girls need strong role models in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Ada Lovelace Day was founded in 2009 by Sue Charman-Anderson in order to highlight the achievements of women in STEM fields. Women are still underrepresented in these fields and in receiving awards for STEM. Seabury MS celebrates ALD every year in October to bring women working in STEM into the classroom and bring attention to gender issues.

Ada Lovelace was the daughter of Lord Byron. Her mother gave her the best education, and she excelled especially in language and mathematics. She translated an article on the work of Charles Babbage who was theorizing about a mechanical computing machine, in the 1800's. Ada wrote an extensive critique of the article, suggesting ways the machine could be used to do even more tasks. Her work with Charles Babbage is consider the precursor to computer programming. In her honor a programming language is named after her, "Ada."

This year we celebrated Ada Lovelace Day with Dr. Cynthia Sprenger, a researcher in the field of microbiology and cancer treatment, Dr. Christine Hartzell a former Seabury alumni who is an Aerospace Engineer who has worked on NASA projects and is now teaching at the University of Maryland, Alexis Massey also a Seabury Alumni, now a student of microbiology and zoology at University of Washington, and Dr. Sharon Amani who works in the field of sustainable development with the farmers of Subsaharan Africa.

Cynthia ran a science lab using electrophoresis to create DNA gels of cancer cells. This lab mimicked her own work with targeting cancer cells and determining if they have immunity to a treatment.

Alexis Massey assisting during DNA lab.

Dr. Cynthia Sprenger running electrophoresis/DNA Lab.

Dr. Christine Hartzell called in via Skype. She explained her path to becoming a scientist, and her research with asteroid dust. She gave girls great advice like: Don't compare who you are on the inside to who others are on the outside. She also discussed her early struggles and how she learned from failures and upsets.

Dr. Hartzell Skyping in.

Ada Lovelace art activity.

Dr. Sharon Amani is a parent of Seabury students, but her work in Africa and as a consultant for the UN really had our students engaged. They were amazed by all she has accomplished and the incredible places and people she has worked with. One story about a nomadic tribe who subsist on a diet of 80% milk, 10% milk, and 10% meat, who are the poorest people on the planet, had the middle schoolers enthralled. She described her work creating micro-loans for farmers and tribes people in Africa.