Congratulations Lauren Duderstadt, the 2017 Girl of Distinction!
Lauren began Girl Scouts as a Daisy. She has many fond Girl Scout memories, including
camping, dances, geocaching and tours of both Washington D.C. and New York City. In addition to fun, Girl Scouts has helped
Lauren develop as a leader. Today,
Lauren is a co-captain for the Hampton High School girls’ soccer team and its varsity
goal keeper, a sponsor and mentor to Hampton Middle School enrichment program’s
mock trial teams, and a martial arts certified instructor. Lauren is also an outstanding student who was
recently inducted into National Honor Society.
For her Gold Award, Lauren wanted to encourage middle school
girls with interests in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to
continue pursuing those interests.
Lauren learned that the dramatic drop in girls’ interests in STEM during
middle school is due to multiple factors, including gender bias and a lack of
awareness of the practical application of STEM principles. To help overcome these factors, Lauren
developed six hands-on STEM workshops and delivered them to middle school girls
with STEM interests. All of Lauren’s
workshops, lesson plans and other supporting material can be accessed by any
interested parent or educator at her website www.stemlikeagirl.com.
Lauren is currently a junior at Hampton High School. Upon graduation, she plans to attend college for
mechanical engineering. Lauren is very
honored to be named as a 2017
Girl of Distinction and is grateful to so many for their inspiration, assistance,
guidance and support, including her parents, Janet Spohn, Gwen Cohen and Patti
Coholich.
