April Fools is over, but you can still play tricks on your friends and family. Did you know you can put a skewer through a balloon? Check out this experiment and show off your magic skills!

The After School girls explored a different type of renewable energy this week. Acting as wind energy engineers, they converted average toy cars to be wind-powered cars. The girls created turbines and attached them to the end of a straw on the back of the car. Using a wind source, they timed how long it took for their cars to travel a set distance. The groups made adjustments to their turbine angles and blades to design the fastest car possible.

Name: Kelly Morrelli, PE CFM
Company: CP&Y, Inc. / Women in Transportation Seminar (WTS)
Title: Professional Engineer / STEM Committee Chair

Girls In STEM 2012 Downtown Designer workshop. The girls got to construct a city made out of all different types of candy. 

Girlstart: Was there a person in your life that encouraged you in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)? If so, please tell us a little bit about how she/he encouraged you:

Kelly: After being accepted to attend The University of Texas in Austin, and claimed a major as “undeclared”. A good friend of mine was majoring in Electrical Engineering and encouraged me attend a Society in Women Engineering meeting. After talking with multiple women majoring in different disciplines of engineering, I decided a career in engineering may be great fit for me. Ever since I was young, I loved putting models together, playing with Legos, creating and building, and a career in civil engineering now allows me to be creative and I get to see my design, i.e. roadways, culverts, bridges being built to help people in the “real world”.

Have you ever seen a gas chemical reaction? Try out this experiment and see the gas that is produced during the reaction!