For my birthday, I was surprised when my wife gave me a rare, available Wii Fit. The new Wii “exergame” that Nintendo created and trying to find is very difficult. I set it up that night and started exploring it. My daughters watched and soon questions came from them: “How does it measure your weight? How does the animated person know you just lost your balance? How does it tell when…” They asked a bunch of questions (when do we get to play was the most asked) that were good questions related to the technology – even though they didn’t realize they were asking about technology. They were curious and Nintendo made technology fun.

Which brings me to an email I received this morning about recruiting girls into technology through a summer camp called, “Cheering in the Classroom” (email below).

FUN and EXCITING camp to get young females interested in TECHNOLOGY!

Imagine if we could teach cheerleaders/dancers to create virtual cheerleaders,
mix their own music, and program teams pyramids!

The Cheering in the Classroom summer camp is a fun and exciting way to introduce students to a college environment and various career opportunities within the field of Technology. The uniqueness of Cheering in the Classroom is that we will use a cheerleading/dance platform to learn about each major. Students will be introduced to many hands-on learning experiences offered by the eight different technology departments listed on the website. Not to mention they will be working hand and hand with Purdue Cheerleaders! For additional information on the camp as well as a video from last years camp, please visit our web site at:

http://www.tech.purdue.edu/Student_Life/diversity/cheering_in_the_classroom.cfm

When I first read about it, I scratched my head and didn’t think about it until I started writing my blog on the Fit. Then I realized, they are both doing the same thing. They are making technology fun. When technology is fun, whether it be an exergame or cheerleading, it can lead to someone being curious. Curiosity can lead to a career.

Mark Viquesney