UCM Partners with Lee's Summit High School Students for 2019 Microsoft DigiGirlz Day

By Janice Phelan, March 14, 2019

A total of six Lee’s Summit R-7 School District students, working with the University of Central Missouri Gigabit Lab, will assist with Internet of Things presentations at the 2019 Microsoft DigiGirlz Day. The April 11 international event is designed to provide teenage girls with a better understanding of technology career opportunities.

“This is UCM’s first year participating in the DigiGirlz event,” said Joe Mullins, UCM Workforce and Professional Development. “We are excited about bringing our Lee’s Summit R-7 partners in to help with the program.”

DigiGirlz takes place at locations throughout the United States and countries all over the world. To register for the event, visit this link. Registration closes April 1 or when all spots are full.

The Lee’s Summit students will help present approximately five morning sessions focusing on the Internet of Things at the metro-area DigiGirlz event, scheduled at Johnson County Community College. During the afternoon, the local students will have the opportunity to attend informational sessions.

Lee’s Summit students presenting at the event include Zoey Sears, Lauren Bryant, Makayla Clark, Martie Schreckengaust, all Lee’s Summit High School, and Megan Demo and Lauren Smith, Lee’s Summit West High School. All six are in Lee’s Summit R-7 teacher Deanna Soukup’s Project Lead the Way computer science course.

The local students’ projects include solutions and applications such as:

• An app that senses an individual’s heart rate to alert a service dog of panic attacks.
• A bathroom mirror designed to include important daily information (calendar, weather, news).
• A hamster cage featuring sensors that dictate the hamster’s Twitter account posts and the activities of an LED animated hamster.

At the sessions, the student presenters will demonstrate their creations and encourage the younger students to try them. Soukup, who also sponsors the Lee’s Summit Girls Who Code Club and the Lee’s Summit Coder Dojo, will attend DigiGirlz with her students.

The University of Central Missouri has partnered with the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District to further engage students in science, technology, engineering and math through SensED Internet of Things. The UCM Gigabit Lab is for entrepreneurs/innovators/researchers in development of next generation products and services that are taking advantage of faster and more reliable networks.