Fifty girls gathered at the Ohio State Chimpanzee Center to watch the chimpanzee, Sheba, count bottle caps for rewards of jelly beans. The “Go Ape Over Science” workshop attempted to inspire young girls to explore a career in science.This was just one of more than 40 workshops offered Thursday at OSU’s fifth annual Take a Daughter to Work Day.The day started with Andrea Lunsford, a professor of English, speaking to participants about taking charge of their lives by writing about their past, present and future.When writing about the future, Lunsford said, “How do you get yourself from here to there? Will yourself into being that person.”Write down, everyday, any interesting sounds, visions, smells. These are materials to write your life. This will help you to write forwards to get you the future you want,” Lunsford said.After the speech, the 350 participants, 9- to 17-years-old were able to go to three pre-chosen workshops held throughout OSU’s campus.Workshops ranged widely in topic to encourage participants’ interests.The Creating Your Own Web Page workshop taught 16 girls and one boy how to create their own web page with its own address, pictures and links.Kevin Sannic, 14, made his page to collect Nintendo 64 scores by e-mail.”I don’t care about being with a bunch of girls. It’s better than being at school,” Sannic said. Megan Hall, 11, created a web page she plans to dedicate to bands and music. The page included pictures of NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys and links to MTV, Warner Brothers and Disney pages.Megan Hall’s mom, Tammi Hall, a university law enforcement officer, said she believed the day was a great opportunity for both of her daughters to not only find interests but to narrow them down.”My other daughter was always saying, ‘I want to be a vet.’ Well, she went to the Veterinary Hospital [workshop] last year and she hasn’t said that since,” Hall said. “They learn what they might like and maybe what they don’t.”One workshop, “Grrrrrl Power,” coordinated by the department of women’s studies and students in the group Peer Power, provided an opportunity for girls to discuss gender and how it is learned.Heidi Deloveh, a senior fine arts major minoring in women’s studies, and Alicia Crandall, a junior English major also minoring in women’s studies, led a discussion asking the nine participants to describe boys and girls.Bulky, strong, beer-drinking and football were adjectives that described boys while tiny, delicate, salad-eating and cheerleading were descriptions for girls. Stereotypes such as greeting cards, advertising, G.I. Joe and Barbie were used to demonstrate how gender is taught, and how it can be harmful, said Beth Goodrich, a junior English major.”We are taught as we grow up to conform. No one conforms completely. Altogether, it builds up a pressure cooker in which we might feel we have to live up to,” Goodrich said.Other workshops included Eye on Photography, Careers in Nursing, Choosing a College Successfully and 21st Century Leadership Skills.Take A Daughter To Work Day was started by the Ms. Foundation for Women because research showed that adolescent girls receive less attention than boys in school and suffer from lower expectations than boys according to the foundation’s web site.
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