Femineer Club

McPherson Magnet School's STEM Lab

History of the CPP CoE Femineer Program

The Femineer Program was created by Cal Poly Pomona's College of Engineering in 2013 to inspire and empower females to pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) in their education and future careers. McPherson Magnet School has been a proud member since 2017. To date, there are nearly 90 participating schools, with over 600 K-12 female students engaged in project-based learning. Mrs. Andrade and Mrs. Hoffmann are proud to nurture their inquisitive minds and to encourage their creative problem solving skills.

Engineers in Training

This year McPherson's Femineers met weekly after school and used the Design Process to create Wearable Technology projects. Girls were introduced to LED circuits, paper circuits, electrical safety and soldering, basics of sewing, and Arduino coding using HexWear power sources.

**The Femineers are grateful to the Orange Blossoms for providing financial support to purchase our sewing supplies, and special shout outs to Mrs. Shaw and Mrs. Truong for their coding expertise, Mrs. Erratt for sharing her wealth of knowledge of sewing, AND to Mr. Erven because without his support this worthwhile program would not have happened!**

zoom_out_map

Sewing Basics

Sewing is a useful life skill to acquire, and it's fun! First step: thread the needle.

zoom_out_map

Stitches

Girls mastered the basic running stitch and back stitching, as well as fancy edging.

zoom_out_map

Conductive Thread

Conductive thread can carry current the same way that wires can, which means it can create a circuit.

zoom_out_map

Greeting Cards

Creating circuits on paper offered opportunities for the girls to integrate technology with art and a lot of creative expression.

zoom_out_map

Soldering Prep

Femineers became experts at stripping wires before we learned the basics of soldering.

zoom_out_map

First Project

Using felt and sewing skills, girls made an accessory using one LED and a coin cell battery.

zoom_out_map

HEXWear

Femineers used the HexWear wearable electronic platform which is based on Arduino IDE. Alligator clips helped the girls verify their codes before adding the pieces to their projects.

zoom_out_map

Soldering

Soldering creates permanent connections between two or more materials. It is carried out at relatively low temperatures, and girls learned proper safety precautions.