Golden Gate Bridge tour introduces middle-school students to engineering
To celebrate Women's History and Empowerment Month this March, the Golden State Warriors partnered with an Alameda County nonprofit and e-commerce company Rakuten to encourage and empower girls in science, tech, engineering, arts, and math.
The collaboration gave more than a dozen middle school girls an unforgettable, behind-the-scenes tour of the Golden Gate Bridge from the bridge's own female engineers. The girls recently got a chance to experience the Golden Gate Bridge in a way they've never seen it before.
"You guys see the waves?" asked middle school student Ledey as she walked across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Ledey and her friends with Girls Inc. of Alameda County explored the span, seeing it through the eyes of the female civil engineers who work on the bridge.
From learning about its construction and interacting with bridge models to touching the bridge's iconic wires, the girls saw the power of engineering first hand.
"If they bring this up as an experience that they had that really sparked that interest in them, how cool would that be to point to the Golden Gate Bridge as that source of inspiration," said Golden Gate Bridge Senior Civil Engineer Carolina Wallin, who led the tour. "It's wonderful."
"The girls in the program have contagious, energy, and an amazing amount of confidence and truly have a really positive outlook on what they can do to impact the world moving forward," said Rakuten Senior Vice President of Marketing Su Li Rivera. "It's absolutely a privilege to come alongside them on their journey."
This was Annah's first time ever on the Golden Gate Bridge.
"It's just like, magical to me," said Annah. "I love getting new experiences because not many people have experiences and chances to do stuff like this."
The tour sparked a new interest for Annah. She's now excited about engineering. It's something she's never thought about before.
"Mind you, I didn't know what engineering was at first. So it's my first time getting to know engineering and the fundamentals of it, especially from people who've done it before. And they made it very specific and helped you understand," said Annah. "The main thing I was learning about was how the bridge was held down while all the cars go back-and-forth on it."
Annah is now a future engineer-in-the-making. For the organizers, that's exactly what they were hoping for. Their goal is to inspire and support these girls in school, their careers, and in life.
On Saturday March 8th, the girls will construct their own bridges and attend the Warriors' game against the Detroit Pistons as part of the team's celebration of Women's History and Empowerment Month.
