MILLS COLLEGE HOSTS CONFERENCE ON SCIENCE AND MATH FOR GIRLS
370 Girls to Attend Expanding Your Horizons Conference, Saturday, March 22, 2008

Oakland, CA–March 18, 2008. Sparking girls' interests in science and mathematics, Mills College will host the Expanding Your Horizons conference on Saturday, March 22, 2008 from 8:30 am–3:15 pm. The day-long event will give 370 girls in 6th–8th grades from Alameda and Contra Costa counties the opportunities to meet women working in traditionally male occupations through innovative workshops, presentations, and interviews.

Girls will have firsthand experiences such as building a computer, using forensic techniques to solve a crime, making an original movie, and extracting their own DNA. In addition, parents and other adults are also invited to attend workshops on topics such as gender and confidence, exploring career options for girls in science, technology, and engineering, and preparing for college admission.

Author-in-residence Catherine Valentino from the Houghton Mifflin Company will give the opening speech entitled "Reach for the Stars, But Keep Your Feet Firmly Planted on the Ground." Postdoctoral fellow at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Ticora V. Jones will give the closing talk, "Upgrade Your Keys to the Future: No One But You!"

Since the first Expanding Your Horizons conference at Mills College in 1976, more than 750,000 girls have been exposed to the fascinations and challenges for women in science and math. Mills provides the facilities, computer and technical support, as well as a conference host site each year.

Expanding Your Horizons in Science and Mathematics is a national organization that sponsors conferences nationwide to nurture girls' interest in science and math courses and to encourage them to consider careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. This year's conference at Mills is supported by the Toyota USA Foundation as part of the Toyota Math and Science Experience at Mills College, a program designed to encourage middle school through high school girls to stay interested in science and mathematics.

Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California, Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering a dynamic progressive education that fosters leadership, social responsibility, and creativity to approximately 900 undergraduate women and 500 graduate women and men. Since 2000, applications to Mills College have more than doubled. The College ranks as one of the top colleges in the West by U.S. News & World Report and one of the Best 366 Colleges by the Princeton Review. For more information, visit http://www.mills.edu/. 

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Quynh Tran
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