Initially, Vicki Weston intended to spend a sophomore-year independent study tutoring local schoolchildren — a fulfilling activity, no doubt, and not too time consuming.

But as she talked over the plan with her advisor, Bradley Hammer, adjunct assistant professor of the practice in education, it just wasn't big enough.

Vicki, now a junior, thought back to a science camp she had attended as a child. Like many young girls, she had often felt overshadowed by the boys in her science classes. But this camp was special. It was girls only. She remembers one activity where they examined rat brains. "I just thought it was amazing that something so small could be so complex." Now a psychology major with a concentration in neuroscience, she was confident she could use her independent study to organize a similar experience for girls in Durham.

After extensive discussions with Prof. Hammer and Gary Ybarra, a professor of the practice of electrical and computer engineering who has worked with other science-education programs, Vicki conceived what would become Females Excelling More in Math, Engineering, and Sciences (FEMMES), a free, one-day, hands-on science camp for local girls in grades four to six.

She sent e-mail messages and met with female faculty members whom she envisioned leading activities in their fields of expertise. She worked with Trinity College associate dean Mary Nijhout to come up with funding. She organized an executive board of students to help her reserve space, rent tables, order food for lunch, and keep track of details. She recruited and trained student volunteers to serve as activity assistants and group leaders.

Vicki credits local parents and school principals for spreading the word. "I said from the start I wanted 100 to 150 students," she says. "We got to 150, and eventually I had to turn my phone off there were so many people still calling, asking if there was any way their daughter could get in." The participants, she adds, represented a large demographic mix. "I had volunteers comment that it was a day when a lot of barriers broke down," she says.

On the day of the event, the girls practiced engineering principles using toothpicks and marshmallows, learned about genes by creating a family of imaginary creatures, and tested plants and household products for the presence of salicylate, an aspirin-like substance. "I wanted to make sure the activities were hands on, that they actually got to do something, to get their hands dirty," Vicki says.

Having female faculty members and students lead the activities was key, to show the girls that a scientist is not necessarily a man in a lab coat. The overriding message of the day: "You can take this as far as you want to."