PGSEO Gives Check for Girls to Attend ‘Be WISE’ STEM Camp

MUSKINGUM COUNTY, Ohio- 8 girls from local counties will be sponsored to attend the Be WISE Camps for girls! 

The Physician’s Group of Southeastern Ohio, or PGSEO, started a collective of 23 independent physicians and has since increased to 31 physicians and 39 APP’s.

PGSEO raised $4,800 to send girls from each county they represent to the camp over the summer and these counties include Perry, Guernsey, Muskingum, and Morgan.

There will be 120 7th and 8th grade girls attending the camp, which is focused on STEM, including a curriculum that includes stream studies and astronomy.

Once at the camp, the girls are placed in ‘Families,’ where many of them create lifelong friendships with girls from all across OHIO.

Be WISE Director, Molly Tharp says they are grateful for the sponsorship, “Its just been so wonderful to be able to send this many girls because without it, we could not do it locally,” she said.

The camp is specifically geared for young ladies because studies show after age 5, many girls start to develop self-limiting beliefs.

PGSEO Medical Director, Dr. Mandy Williams talked more about that study and furthering that she hopes the camp inspires young girls to feel valued.

“Confidence gap, that gender confidence gap at that really precarious time, so age 14, is 27%. So a girl reports her self confidence level to be 27% lower than their male peers. And thats a great starting point, where you help them to feel valued and then hopefully and go from there and get into these STEM fields and really excel,” the doctor told us. 

The camp is one week long and will be held on the Muskingum College campus, a campus that Dr. Williams attended.

She also spoke to say that without proper representation, young women cannot see themselves as their dreams.

The camp hopes to aid in the representation of women in STEM roles, especially across local communities.

To learn more or for more information about the camp, visit https://bewisecamp.org/.