Zoё Bentley has been named the 2nd place winner of the USA Today-NASA “No Boundaries” national competition.
Zoё, a13 year-old Girl Scout, created a website entitled “Exogeology Rocks!” with her perspective career choice and the STEM competition in mind. The No Boundaries competition required participants to create projects that market NASA careers to teens. Her website is complete with information about the field of exogeology, blogs and games.
“I have a passion for astronomy and aspire to be an exogeologist when I grow up,” explained Bentley. “Most people have no clue what exogeology is so I wanted to create an informative project for kids to learn more about it. I felt creating a website would be the most resourceful way of doing that.”
Zoё represented the Sahuaro Girl Scout Council in the No Boundaries competition and was paired with Laura-Ann Chin, president of the University of Arizona's chapter of the Society of Women Engineers, who served as her project mentor.
“The website is such an impressive piece of work,” said Chin. “I think it is such an amazing feat that every aspect of if was created by a 13 year-old girl.”
Bentley will receive $1,000 and visit NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Southern California where she will make a formal presentation of her website.
In addition to her recent accomplishment, Zoё Bentley has also been awarded a scholarship to attend Astronomy Camp, sponsored by the Travel Program and the University of Arizona Alumni Association, this summer.
Bentley resides in Sahuarita, Arizona with her family and has been an active girl scout for nine years. She is enrolled in a radical unschooling program and has completed geology and astronomy courses at Pima Community College.
For more information about Zoё's website please visit: http://www.exogeology.info/
For More Information:
– Debbie Rich, CEO, Sahuaro Girl Scout Council (520) 444-2549
– Alicia Odom, Development Specialist, Sahuaro Girl Scout Council (520) 319-3187
About No Boundaries Competition
No Boundaries is a joint initiative between NASA's Space Operations and Exploration Systems Mission Directorates. NASA also partners with USA TODAY Education. The program encourages students to explore STEM careers through stimulating, project-based learning and team competition. No Boundaries targets students in grades 7-12 and is designed as a team-centered cooperative learning project.
