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EPA Region 7 Representatives Volunteer at Local High Schools as Part of Girl Scouts’ IMAGINE Program

Release Date: 05/08/2012
Contact Information: Chelsey Derks, (913) 551-7240, [email protected]

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., May 8, 2012) - EPA Region 7 representatives have volunteered at three Kansas City area high schools as part of the Girl Scouts of America’s IMAGINE program.

The IMAGINE program seeks to educate girls about careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) by providing interaction and hands-on learning activities with role models and content knowledge experts.

Three EPA Region 7 employees volunteered to be those role models and content knowledge experts. Katy Miley, Janice Kroone and Megan Schuette, who reached out to girls at ACE High School and Alta Vista Charter High School in Kansas City, Mo., and Turner High School in Kansas City, Kan., work at EPA as On-Scene Coordinators who are deployed in the field during environmental crises within the region.

EPA is committed to community education, involvement, and outreach. This opportunity made it possible to educate and mentor young women in the Kansas City area. Volunteers also participated in hands-on and career exploration activities designed to introduce the students to STEM opportunities.

Karen Grode, CEO of Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri said, “The Girl Scouts are proud to partner with the EPA in providing the IMAGINE program to hundreds of girls across the Kansas City metropolitan area. Young women need strong female role models to demonstrate what their future can look like and the EPA guest speakers provided extraordinary examples.”

This partnership is a result from a grant to the Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri from the AT&T Foundation. With the help of the Girl Scouts, EPA Region 7 and other volunteers, the program served more than 250 young women between January and May of this year.