In collaboration with Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the Museum has targeted four local high schools to take part in
RISE. Each year, the Museum recruits 20 girls to take part in two years of continuous programming. Following some Saturday workshops introducing participants to the Museum environment, the girls take part in a 4-week summer institute in which they learn to use Computer Assisted Design (CAD) software to design table top engineering exhibits. During the first year of the program, girls designed and fabricated models of lifeguard stations, incorporating a variety of engineering principles into their creations. Year two activities included tours of the engineering departments at Florida International University, University of Miami, Miami-Dade College, and Florida Memorial College. The girls also went on a two-day college tour to the University of South Florida, taking part in the annual Florida Engineering EXPO, attended by students from around the state.
This summer, as the Museum begins work with a group of girls from the next school, the girls in the first group will have the chance to complete two-week internships, either as assistants in this summer's
RISE program, as assistants in the Museum's annual Summer Science Enrichment Program, or as assistants working with researchers at Florida International University.
