Sophomore Ceci Vollbrecht was an important part of Centre's field hockey team this season, playing in all 24 games as the Colonels claimed a Southern Athletic Association championship and advanced to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year. However, she continues to play an even more important role off the field, where she has organized a program in which Centre students serve as mentors to local youth at Boyle County Middle School.
This fall, Vollbrecht started a program called Girls in Engineering, Math and Science (GEMS), which was recently featured in articles on the Centre College website and the Lane Report. With statistics showing a disproportionate number of middle school-aged girls gravitating away from courses in science, technology, engineering, and math, the goal of the program is to keep girls interested in those fields through an exciting, hands-on learning environment.
"The program is an after school club for the middle school girls with the goal being to give them more exposure to science in a hands on way, provide positive role models and also help to boost their confidence," said Vollbrecht. "This includes not only confidence to continue in science but also confidence in themselves."
One afternoon each week, the Centre students in the GEMS program travel to mentor the middle school students through science activities. The group includes several Centre athletes, including Vollbrecht's field hockey teammates Lauren Moskowitz and Samantha Aguiar, as well as soccer player Shannon Murray. Though the launch of the program during their fall seasons made for some busy afternoons, Vollbrecht believes the reward is well worth the effort.
"Although GEMS started right during the middle of field hockey season, it was definitely a program I felt was worth the extra time to get started," Vollbrecht added. "Although we have to hurry back to school afterwards to get to practice, it's so worth it."
For Vollbrecht, who recently secured a $1,000 grant from the National Girls Collaborative Project to fund the GEMS program for another year, the experience starting and organizing the program has been nearly as valuable as participating in the program itself.
"For me, it also involves a lot more then just going to the middle school each week, but also planing activities, coordinating mentors and getting supplies," said Vollbrecht. "The whole process was a lot of extra work on top of an already busy schedule with field hockey and traveling every other weekend, but it was definitely possible to get it all done and made me focus on my time management. This is part of the reason I love Centre though, I can be a student-athlete and still be involved in activities outside of my sport and class."
Click here to see the full story on www.centre.edu.
