Two things motivate work--money and empowerment. As a public school classroom teacher, I know both are short in supply. But, the CRPC has given other teachers and myself the opportunity to excel by providing support and power. I have had the opportunity to participate in the GirlTech Workshop in 1996 and 1998. I have also had the opportunity to participate in the TeachScheme! Project for the last three summers, and this year also was awarded the opportunity to learn from the TeachJava! Workshop. All of these were free, provided resources, and all empowered me enormously as a teacher.

The GirlTech workshops have not only provided valuable tools to help my students learn, they have provided e-mail, server space and free on-line support. But, more important than money, being a GirlTECH participant has made me feel important as a teacher. Through GirlTECH, I learned about other Rice University programs. The TeachScheme! and TeachJava! Workshops have not only provided valuable tools to help my students learn, they have paid stipends for my time. The CRPC and all the other teachers in the program have made me feel the value of what I am doing to help students learn and achieve academic excellence. It is things like this that keep me in the classroom! It is things like this that motivate work.

I would like to thank all the sponsors for their support. I believe the money involved will be repaid tenfold in the years to come. I have learned not only about equity in representation of minorities and females in the sciences, I have learned about web programming and tools for improving math instruction. It is programs like these that really make a difference in the scientific technical future of the United States.

I hope this exemplary program will be rewarded with continued financial support and be available for many more years, so more teachers and students will be given the same opportunity to learn for the future. Charter schools, school choice, school accountability, government programs-- the list goes on--will never do as much for education as hands-on programs like GirlTECH. Boy, I wish we could start our own school to get politics out of the classroom. As I continue in another school year, I think of GirlTECH and all that it has done for me as a teacher. Thank you for making a difference!