As it's nearing the end of semester one of 2011, its time for Robogals UNSW to reflect on what we've achieved in these past few months. It is wonderful to know that all our volunteers are passionate about promoting engineering amongst young girls - even though many are male, science related or engineering students!

During O-Week, we held a Robogals stall, which recruited close to 80 new volunteers, and invited all UNSW students to participate in our very first t-shirt design competition (for a $50 prize voucher)! The end result of our competition was a spunky 'I Heart Robots' design by Laura Lau, a UNSW engineering student, which is currently already being worn by our volunteers at robotics workshops!

Our newly recruited volunteers then eagerly participated in training workshops, alongside school workshops—organised to accommodate for any volunteers who joined later in the semester and who wanted to participate in any upcoming workshops.

Although Robogals UNSW were only able to successfully organise lessons with two schools this semester- Sydney Girls High and Ravenswood School for Girls, the representative teachers from both Ravenswood and Sydney Girls were impressed with our robotics workshops. The Year 7 Sydney Girls High workshop was held at the school premises and was an event thoroughly enjoyed by all. On the other end, teachers from Ravenswood were delighted with our workshop and expressed their interests in further involvement with us. We are hoping to organise more activities for them further along in the year, and suggested for their possible participation in RoboCup Junior in August!

The positive influence of Robogals has been able to extend beyond the UNSW Kensington campus, as many schools have opted to invest in LEGO robotics kits for their students after workshops with our volunteers!

Furthermore, we were able to maintain good relationships with past and new schools and establish contacts with other organisations such as Engineers Australia, Women in Renewable Engineering and Powerhouse Museum Sydney. Discussions are also underway for a possible luncheon between volunteers and Macquarie Bank, as well as a presentation for Women in Renewable Engineering. We are excited and ready!