GEMS stands for Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science. Every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month, 35 girls get together in Mrs. Arcaya’s room to participate in numerous activities regarding engineering, math, and science. Last year, admission was limited to only 30 girls, but this year they have increased it to 35 girls. These girls get to design their own T-shirt, code and do more fun projects. I was also in GEMS last year and found it extremely motivating.

“G.E.M.S. is an opportunity for girls to come together and share their love of science, math, engineering, and technology. The activities will be member driven with opportunities to participate in regional/state STEM competitions.” Mrs. Arcaya wrote on the clubs page on the CVMS website. The girls participating in GEMS will be allowed to participate in the TAME state competition. TAME stands for Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering. There is also a TAME club at CVMS, but GEMS is an exception. Because it also focuses on Math and Science, GEMS girls are also allowed to compete. 

Last year, Anya, Krithi, and Manika, three girls who were all in GEMS, were named national finalists in the 2017 ProjectCSGIRLS Competition.

“Anya, Krithi, and Manika are outstanding students who showed true collaboration and a drive to always learn more,” Canyon Vista Principal Nicole Hagerty said. “We are incredibly proud of this team of girls and wish them well as they travel to Washington, D.C. to represent Canyon Vista and Texas on the national stage.”

While Anya, Krithi, and Manika did extraordinarily well, we hope to also have more girls participating in these competitions in the future. One reason that many girls wanted to join GEMS was that in other clubs, there were LOTS of boys there. Some people might argue that this isn’t true, but they didn’t want to join those clubs for precisely that reason. This is how many of the girls-only clubs at CVMS were born.