Camp gives girls hands-on experience with technology

A University of Illinois Springfield professor hopes she can convince two dozen middle school girls just how fascinating computer science can be.

But here’s the catch: She has just two days to make it happen.

At a time when the number of women interested in computer science is declining rapidly, Girl Tech 2013, a two-day camp at UIS that started Thursday, aims to get young girls interested in the field and strengthen their technology skills by giving them hands-on opportunities, said Mary Sheila Tracy, a computer science instructor at the university.

“The key to making this successful is to find something that engages the girl as well as teaches them, and teaching really becomes secondary,” Tracy said, adding that the camp, which is in its fifth year, is geared toward girls in middle school, an age when interest begins to decline.

“Girls in middle school make a decision somewhere along the way to walk away from science, technology, engineering and math,” Tracy said.

The story was featured by the State Journal-Register on June 14, 2013.

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College students fear possible interest rate hike

The clock is ticking for college students across the country who are anticipating a possible hike in student loan interest rates. The rate hike is scheduled to kick in on July 1.

It would double interest rates on students with subsidized Stafford loans from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. If Congress fails to come to an agreement, students with subsidized Stafford loans would have to pay nearly $1,000 more in interest over the life of their loan.

UIS Financial Aid Associate Director Carolyn Schloeman said the possible interest rate hike most likely won't impact future students' decisions to go to college.

"At this point, a lot of them already committed, they made their plans, and they kinda already had an idea about how they are going to pay their education for this upcoming year," said Schloeman. "They have already made their plans and got everything together, so I don't see it being a huge impact."

Shloeman said currently the interest rates are fixed on all subsidized and unsubsidized loans. Therefore, if Congress doesn't come to an agreement by July 1 of this year, only students who take out loans after the first will be affected by the higher interest rates.

Susan Koch: UIS students benefit from studies abroad

The following is part of a column written by UIS Chancellor Susan J. Koch. It was published in the June 9, 2013 edition of The State Journal-Register.

"If conversations I had recently are any indication, many University of Illinois Springfield students will return to the Springfield campus next fall with more vigorous minds indeed, along with some interesting stamps in their passports. These students are part of a larger trend of increasing global student mobility.

In fact, according to UNESCO, there are 3.4 million students on the move every year all over the world.

UIS history major Caitlin Osborn is one of those 3.4 million this year. A senior from Edwardsville who is on the women’s golf team, Caitlin is spending much of this month in Rome studying the Eternal City with professor of comparative religion David Bertaina."

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