Holiday Wassail Party

Dear Santa Rosa AAUW,

Thank you for funding my Tech Trek experience. I learned things all the way from mollusks to computer animation. The teachers are very understanding, devoting their time to teaching things about science and other interesting things. The food is delicious, and I've made some good friends. I enjoyed Tech Trek and hope to come back to Stanford.

Sincerely,
Kristen Garcia

Dear Santa Rosa AAUW,

I really enjoyed Tech Trek. It was fun learning about how Pixar made animations and I also liked making the ice cream in chemistry. I've made really good friends and I'll be sad when we part. I'll never forget this summer!

Thank you!
Martha Fast

Dear Santa Rosa AAUW Members,

I want to say thank you so much. I don't have the words to express my gratitude. This experience at Tech Trek has had an enormous impact on my life; now I am really sure that I want to pursue something in science. Tech Trek has changed my life. Without this experience I would probably still be unsure of what to major in college. Thank you so much. It's an honor for me to be able to attend this camp.

During my time here, I attended the Math core class, it was an AMAZING class. In it, the students used actual Nintendo DS's to train our brains. The basic idea of the class was to make our brains stronger. I really have learned a lot in that class so far. I learned to think about things before I judge. For example, when the students got a difficult puzzle work on, instead of just automatically saying "I can't do this, it's too hard." We learned to look at every detail and work slowly and carefully. I completed a lot of tasks that I didn't know I could.

The activities that I took part in were outstanding. Many of them were interesting and enjoyable, but a few were just amazing, particularly the boat trip, astronomy night and the architect presentation. Those activities truly spoke to me and I plan to major in one of those fields.

Again, I just wanted to say thank you so much for giving me a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Thank you for giving up your free time to benefit the next generation of women. When I am old enough, I am interested in joining AAUW. Thanks so much for everything. Truly from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Sincerely,
Ramanjot Kaur

Dear Santa Rosa AAUW,

Thank you so much for sending me to Tech Trek, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I'll never forget it. I took marine biology, and I loved all the activities that helped me learn and I had fun. Plus we had other activities that weren't part of our core class. I loved the CSI class. Tech Trek has definitely helped me to consider more science influenced careers. I also learned how many household things that sharks are killed for. Shark could be in your household soap!! In marine biology we dissected a squid and I had a lot more fun with it than I thought. I met so many amazing people here too, they were all so nice, and I think they will be lifelong friends. I'm so glad you sent me here, thank you so much.

Sincerely,
Michelle Sweeney

Dear AAUW of Santa Rosa Branch,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to come to Tech Trek. I had so much fin in my biotechnology class. The first day we took DNA out of 3 different fruits. The DNA was white and gooey. On Tuesday we had a Star Party and it was amazing, because I saw the Big Dipper and craters of the moon. Wednesday was so cool because we had Pixar demonstration. Today we went to a veterinary class and I saw a veterinarian for the first time. Thank you so much for giving me this wonderful experience that I will never forget.

Sincerely,
Samantha Calderon

Dear Members of the AAUW Santa Rosa Branch,

Thank you so much for sending me to Tech Trek. I learned so much and had so much fun, especially on the boat trip. I got to touch a stingray for the first time! It was very soft, and its stinger was gone, so it was pretty much harmless. Also in the net were young sharks, a flounder, and a little silver shoaling fish that were lively swimmers in the tanks.

My core class was biotechnology. I loved it, because part of the experiments were separating DNA from fruit and made bacteria glow with a gene for GFP (green fluorescent proteins).

I'm definitely never going to forget the friends I made at Tech Trek. I've en forgiven Lauren (my roommate) for opening the dorm door when I was unlocking it with the key around my neck, thereby dragging me forward by the lanyard still around my neck. Ouch! But I laugh when I think about it now.

Thank you so much for giving me this wonderful opportunity to attend Tech Trek. I will remember it forever.

Sincerely,
Shana Ruth-Seminara

Dear Santa Rosa AAUW,

What a blast this week has been! I never knew I would have learned as much as I did. Coming into Tech Trek I wanted to become a mediator. After being in my core class (chemistry of food) I want to become a dietician. One of the things that I enjoyed was having professional women come and talk to us about their jobs. Everything was so interesting! I took a lot away from that experience. I probably had the most fun on the boat trip. Our crew caught a stingray and three baby sharks! That's something I never thought I would do. In the meantime, the campers at Tech Trek were amazing. These girls were so smart and super fun. They truly made my experience even better. I believe the message of Tech Trek is to encourage young women to become the best that they can be. I owe it all to the branch of Santa Rosa for this eye opening experience. I know I can speak for myself as well as for the other campers when I say that this camp has inspired us all to pursue a career in a science field.

Hats off to a job well done!

Sincerely,
Allison Lopez

Santa Rosa Branch AAUW-California