A handful of middle schoolers will have quite the tales to tell when they return to the classroom this fall.

What did Isabella Dirks do this summer? She went to Tech Trek, a weeklong science, technology, engineering and mathematics summer camp just for girls.

Her favorite part? Trying her hand at dissection.

"We did a sheep eyeball, a chicken wing and a sheep heart," the incoming Lakes Middle School eighth grader said with enthusiasm Wednesday afternoon. "Just seeing how the blood flows through it and just being able to poke through it was really interesting. They don’t even do this type of stuff in my school.

"My favorite dissection was a sheep heart, it was really fun," she said.

Isabella was among five girls from the Coeur d'Alene School District who participated in the American Association of University Women's Tech Trek Washington State, held July 13-19 at Pacific Lutheran University just south of Tacoma.

“I wanted to go to Tech Trek because my dad is a doctor and I've been intrigued by his job, so I wanted to learn more about it," Isabella said. 

Packed with field trips, lab sessions, team projects and lessons ranging from physics to astronomy, Tech Trek takes place during the summer between seventh and eighth grades. Participants hail from Idaho, Washington and Oregon. They must be referred by teachers, and, of course, be interested in STEM activities and careers.

"I know this opportunity definitely changed my amount of confidence to go out and meet people,” said Wendy Lepinski, who is also going into eighth grade at Lakes.

Wendy said she loved being around other like-minded girls who are interested in the same subjects she enjoys.

One activity she participated in was called the "Deer Population Game," where some girls represented deer while others represented resources.

"At one point we introduced mountain lions, so it was seeing how one animal interacted with another and how resources can affect each other," she said.

Tech Trek originally started in 1998 at Stanford University in California, supported by an AAUW community grant. More camps were added and the national organization of AAUW took the program nationwide in 2013. It has been offered in 10 states. 

The AAUW was founded in 1881 with the mission of promoting girls and women to be accepted at higher learning institutions. In 2010, the AAUW did extensive research on why girls lost confidence in the STEM disciplines, especially in the middle school years. The findings revealed that with fewer women in tech and science, they made much less in lifelong salaries. 

To help remedy this gap, Tech Trek was developed. With instruction led by women scientists and professionals, the camp is designed to increase young women's interest in STEM while boosting their confidence and giving them opportunities to build relationships with like-minded peers and mentors.

“My main takeaway would be now l know there are other things out there that are outside of school topics; a lot of the things I learned in Tech Trek I’ve never learned in class," Wendy said. "It showed me there are a lot of things you can learn that aren’t just in school.” 

She said she recommends those who are nominated to take the leap and experience Tech Trek if they have the chance.

"Take that opportunity," she said. "You learn a bunch of things about yourself and the world around you."

Info: techtrek-wa.aauw.net

    From left, Coeur d'Alene School District students Isabella Dirks, Brielle Jaggi and Wendy Lepinski hang around a Pacific Lutheran University sign during Tech Trek, a STEM-centered camp for girls held July 13-19 on the PLU campus just south of Tacoma.