Ebony and Ellionsai, Girls Inc. of Omaha basketball players, think it's great to be girl athletes and have athletic role models. As athletes, they'll tell you that good grades, paying attention in school, and staying away from negative behavior is as important as practice. Ellionsai says, "It's important to know that when I graduate from high school, I have opportunities for sports scholarships too."

"I'm really excited to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Title IX and looking forward to making the next 40 years even better!" says Girls Inc. of Omaha Program Director Emily Mwaja.

Using a sheet of cardstock, a takeout box, popsicle sticks, 2 skewers, 3 washers, Dixie cups, and a small glass bowl, the girls made their very own gumball machines in Techbridge. This activity was listed as a "favorite" of many of the girls.  They loved using the tools - rulers, scissors, tape, X-acto knives, glue guns, and snips to put all of the pieces together and create a machine that actually works.

Check out our Girls Inc. of Omaha facebook page to see an album of photos from this activity.

The girls write about their ideal teachers.

"I want my ideal teacher to be nice and do more math and [sic] sicince and [sic] sousho stades and more class and more play time.  And she can give us..." - here the Girls Inc. member runs out of space.  Turn the paper over to read what the ideal teacher gives her students: "[sic] mony.

Page 1 (above) and turned over for page 2 (below).

One of the summer field trips for Build IT.  Tour guide:  Ms. Angel Martin

I went to UNO with Ms. Candice and the girls from the 11-12 year old age group.  Our tour guide Ms. Angel (she used to work at Girls Inc.) took us inside this room where they do interviews and edit what people say.  We got to play around recording our voices and playing them back to hear what we sound like….I had a really nice time at UNO and learned a lot about technology.  After today, I think this is something I may go to college for! - Jasmine 

…I got to record my voice and do a phone call interview.  I sounded horrible but I was new to it so that’s OK.  As I sat down and actually recorded my voice – when I heard it, I realized that is was really soft.  The closer you are to the mic, the better.  It was really cool. Ms. Angel talked about how back in the day when they made a tape or recording they had to cut the tapes and put them together.  If you cut a tape too short, then they were messed up and it was too bad because when you’re physically cutting something, it’s hard to redo it.  There was no back button or delete button.   Now there is better technology to use when recording and interviewing people as well as editing things.  The deadlines for interviews are very important.  If you miss a deadline, it made the flow of everything go back a little and if you miss a deadline too often you could get fired from your job.  I learned a lot.  Thanks Ms. Angel – you did great! - Dae

We talked about how you can’t cuss on live air. – Ty’Auna

The field trip around UNO studios was totally amazing…They even let us speak into the mic.  We learned how they make their broadcasts and how they made them in the olden days.  We learned how they cut the film and how they pieced it together like a big technical puzzle.  We even heard one of Ms. Angel’s broadcasts.  She was talking about the arts (poetry).  She was talking about kids and their problems and how they settled them with their poems.  After we left that room we went to another room and saw and talked about how they call people to interview them and what questions to ask.  While in that room we met Robyn and “The Voice” (Josh)…Overall I loved the tour and would love to go and do the whole thing all over again. - Victoria

I learned that to put a person on air you first have to interview them to get your topic and the information; then make different paragraphs or parts; and then put it all together.  Then you have a story.  To put it on the air you would have to edit it; then log on to your account on the computer and go to the editing page and type in your topic and information.  Then turn your radio station to you and then do your thing! - Taleah

I loved the field trip because I love technology and we got to see the new and old technology they use.  KVNO 90.7 is the radio broadcast.  We got to do a radio interview with Ms. Crystal and I got ecorded and I sounded really weird.  She hung up and we didn’t know and everyone started to laugh.  We listened to an arts broadcast by Ms. Angel called Louder than a Bomb…We also did a recording and Ms. Angel cut some things and made a real broadcast.  We also talked to some interns named Lindsey and Robyn about their schedule.  Ms. Angel showed us the room they use for 3 or 4-person interviews.  It was really fun and taught us a lot.  Thank you Ms. Angel.  – Aviera

Jayleesha and Arianna received math trophies during the last week of school.  They both agreed that participating in Operation SMART after school helped them do better in math during the school day.

"Operation SMART helps girls learn things they didn't learn yet in school so they can get prepared.  Or if they already learned it in school they can practice more at Operation SMART.  Like subtraction or addition.  We did both of those at Operation SMART.  My mom wants me to do well in school so my mom helps me with math, too." - Jayleesha

"Yes, Operation SMART makes you learn more.  And learn better.  If you get 100% you might get a trophy, too." - Arianna

Because of her outstanding play during the last season of basketball, Girls Inc. member LaShawn Sweet was selected to play in the 9th Annual Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands/Nebraska Army National Guard 5th Grade Girls All-Star Basketball Game.  The game will be held on April 8th at Benson High School.  You go, LaShawn!

As part of the Black History Month celebrations, the girls in the GIRLStart literacy program read a book about Rosa Parks and wrote letters of gratitude to her bravery.  Symphany's letter is below. 

The 9-12 year old girls chose famous African Americans to honor with rap songs.  Want to see some of the raps?  For Martin Luther King, Jr. -  click here:  http://bit.ly/gPtMBN.  For Bill Cosby, click here: http://bit.ly/h8rRt0  For Oprah, click here http://bit.ly/dENPHq.

The girls did a variety of activities to celebrate Black History Month.  Here is one:

The GIRLStart girls read books, like When Harriet Met Sojourner.  This book tells of the meeting between the two women.  Although we know it occurred, we don't know what the two women actually discussed as there were no witnesses to the meeting.  The girls imagined what such a discussion must have been like and then wrote about their imagined meeting.  Lauren wrote and illustrated what she thought might have happened between Harriet and Sojourner (which sounded like "Sir Journal" to her - good atempt at phonetically puzzling it out!). "Freedom for all!"

The Girls Inc. team participated in the regional competition last Saturday where they presented their research, were evaluated on their teamwork, and put their robot through pre-programmed missions.  Ryleigh tells you what they learned and how they feel about their experience: http://bit.ly/gdaLO1  No trophy this year but the girls were champions of learning and taking risks.  Bravo team!

Here you can see some video clips of their preparation.

Hunter assists Sienna with a mission:  http://bit.ly/hIZiNy

The girls run a successful mission as the clock runs down... http://bit.ly/fGURnh  (Love the fact that the little girls are lining up for dinner and observing the older girls in action - maybe becoming inspired to join the team in a few years!)

Here Hunter, a seasoned veteran on the Girls Inc. team, helps Layla, one of the younger team members with a mission.  Love the leadership legacy!  http://bit.ly/hzoohJ

Layla gets "The Syringe" mission right! http://bit.ly/gkZ3Yo

The girls did a liver analysis activity as part of the "Case of the Missing Puppy" in their Tech Bridge class.

"It was very interesting and now I want to work for CSI!" - Maggie

"It was very inspiring.  I might want to do more things like this!" - Victoria

For more info on tech Bridge, visit http://www.techbridgegirls.org/.