XR is in its infancy, and so new that it has really opened opportunities for women to emerge as leaders in this nascent industry. XR Super Girls is connecting the dots between innovation, creativity and STEAM to empower female students with confidence, leadership, tech skills, and a supportive sisterhood to expand knowledge and understanding of these new immersive technologies. XR Marin is seizing this unique opportunity to be the catalyst leveraging this open landscape to cultivate our female students to become the next generation of young leaders in XR.
Mary Jane Burke, Marin County Superintendent of Schools welcomes attendees at XR Super Girls Empowerment Workshop on Saturday, April 27. Read more about this event below:
XR Super Girls [XRSG] is a program that encourages female students to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math [STEAM] through the engagement, education, and empowerment of girls and young women in entrepreneurship and immersive technology in XR: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and 360 Video.
Leadership
XR Super Girls will encourage girls and young women to discover their voice, their strengths, who they are as a leaders and how they can create change in the world through the awesome potential of XR. XR Marin provides a safe space for girls to realize their value, power, and wisdom through creativity, collaboration, self-reflection, and content creation in XR.
Education
XR Super Girls also better prepares our students for college and career through our educational programs, entrepreneurship and a supportive sisterhood of industry mentors at the forefront of the immersive tech revolution that is impacting our modes of communication and how we experience our world--both the physical and the virtual.
Mentorship
With the support, engagement, and mentoring by female developers and industry leaders our sisterhood and ecosystem in XR will be the catalyst to rapidly bridge the gap in gender and diversity in technology.
Meet up with your friends for a fun afternoon of learning foundational skills and start your journey to creating new worlds in XR! Designed to introduce girls and young women to the awesome potential of immersive technologies while building confidence and sisterhood in XR. Everyone age 11+ is welcome!
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Read on our blog about how we are building a sisterhood in XR and also about our XRSG Friday Meet Up with Sasha Sameochina, Deputy Manager of the Ops Lab, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Nov 15, 2019
Previous Events
Meet Up Calendar
OCT - NOV 2019
4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Oct. 11 | Fall Welcome: XR Intro & Virtual Reality Painting
Join us for our kick-off event introducing immersive technology: Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and 360 Video. Learn about each platform and get started right away creating art in virtual reality. VR Painting is super fun and so easy that anyone can do it! Grab your friends and unleash your inner doodler with Tilt Brush, Google's new painting tool for virtual reality. You will create your own dynamic doodles and art while learning how to express your creativity in a new immersive environment. This introductory meet-up is designed for beginner exploration and fun while building confidence with immersive technology and connecting with our XR sisterhood in Marin.
Oct. 18 | Building Blocks 3-D Modeling for VR
Create 3-D objects for 3-D immersive environments in VR with Google's new modeling tool Blocks. Blocks will give dimension to your creations so you can actually walk around them in an immersive space. You will be learning a very basic foundational skill essential for any VR project which is an iterative combination of assets known as 3D objects and code. This class will get you on your way to making objects for the new worlds you will create in VR. Also, you will connect with peers who are interested in learning about XR!
Nov. 01 | Characters & Critters with Oculus Medium 3-D Modeling
Create 3-D characters and critters with Oculus Medium, a VR tool for character artists or aspiring ones that lets a single user sculpt, model, paint and create objects for 3-D environments. You will be learning a very basic foundational skill essential for any VR project which is an iterative combination between assets known as 3D objects and code. This class will get you on your way to creating characters and critters to populate the new immersive environments you will create in VR while connecting with peers who are interested in XR!
Nov. 15 | Finding Your Voice in the New World of 360 Immersive Storytelling with Special Guest Mentor, Sasha Samochina, Deputy Manager of the Ops Lab, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Self-knowledge is the foundation girls need to assert their voice and remain resilient, to rise up as leaders—and to keep rising. In our increasingly complex world, immersive storytelling with 360 Video is a powerful way to blend tech and communication to develop a whole new form of speaking your truth, creating empathy and the feeling of being there through immersive experience. In this meet up you will be introduced to 360 video and learn how to make a simple immersive video capture so can begin to find your voice within this new immersive channel.
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Special Guest Mentor
We will have a very special guest, Sasha Samochina, Deputy Manager of the Ops Lab, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL), who will video chat live with us from Pasadena. Sasha will share how she found her she found her voice creating immersive experiences to communicate about NASA's incredible science that is taking place on Mars and in our vast universe! Participants will also learn how to make their own 360 videos during the Meet Up. Please register here to attend
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Previous Event
XR Super Girls - An Empowerment Workshop
Saturday, April 27, 2019
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XR Super Girls Empowers Youth to Explore Careers in STEAM via XR
An inspiring morning at XR Super Girls: An Empowerment Workshop where 50 students and attendees were encouraged to pursue careers in STEAM and to become the next generation of female leaders in tech via the awesome potential of Extended Reality (XR). Inspiration and encouragement was led by Mary Jane Burke, Marin County Superintendent of Schools, and three top XR entrepreneurs: Barbara DeHart, Co-Founder of Sama Learning; Suzanne Borders, Co -Founder of BadVR; and Sophia Batchelor, Vice President of Virtual Reality at Berkeley.
A diverse range of attendees came out to try virtual reality (VR) and learn more about careers in XR. For many attendees, it was the first time trying VR and exploring careers in XR. VR Demo opportunities and a raffle for prizes added to the fun of the day! Many thanks to our keynote speakers and mentors for sharing their words of wisdom and personal journeys along with their heartfelt support our XR youth sisterhood and XR Marin. A special thanks to Oculus and XR Libraries for their generous donations to the raffle prizes.
Some words of praise from our awesome keynote speakers who are entrepreneurs leading the way for women in XR!
"An inspiring day with girls and boys interested in XR. I can’t wait to see what these amazing young people create! XR Marin is an shining example—thank you for inviting Sama to be part of it!"
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Barbara DeHart
Sama Learning
"I am honored to have spoken, and would love to continue to support and contribute to such events in the future.
You’re doing great things & I’m so appreciative of all your work. "
Suzanne Borders
BadVR
Support
from our
Tech Sisterhood
Discover your super power and the awesome potential of XR
Students will also be inspired by professional women leaders from academia and industry through mentoring and coaching sessions. Our keynote speakers will share their career paths and very own “super powers” that helped them become industry leaders and entrepreneurs in XR.
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Mentoring sessions with female industry leaders will help catalyze female students to recognize their unique talents and dependable strengths that are unique “super powers” to bring to the world of XR, STEAM, and beyond!
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The goals of this workshop include:
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self-discovery and empowerment for female middle school, high school, and college students;
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hands-on demos of virtual reality, augmented reality, and 360-degree video immersive storytelling;
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an environment that facilitates learning and excitement for the awesome potential of XR;
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inspiring female students to continue to pursue pathways in XR for college and career while building high demand 21st century skills for a global industry.
Parents are invited to attend with their daughters. Pre-registration is required for students, parents, teachers, developers, entrepreneurs, and anyone interested in attending.
Registration fee is $20 per person and students are free.
Event is open to all.
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Keynote Speakers
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XR Super Girls is aimed to inspire female students to go into careers in science and technology through the awesome potential of Extended Reality (XR) while providing a nurturing environment of sisterhood and mentorship from women leaders in XR: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and 360-degree Immersive Storytelling.
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This empowerment workshop provides an opportunity for female middle school, high school, and college students an introduction to XR including demo sessions to try VR, AR and 360-degree Immersive Storytelling.
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Suzanne Borders, BadVR
https://www.badvr.com
Suzanne Borders is the CEO & founder of BadVR, the world's first immersive data analytics platform. She led product design and UX at 2D analytics companies including Remine, CREXi, and Osurv. Suzanne is a recipient of Magic Leap’s Independent Creator’s Program grant and previous winner of Zillow’s Zip Code public data hackathon. Passionate about the intersection of design, immersive technology and data, she finds inspiration in travel (75 countries and counting) and is a published poet..
Barbara DeHart, Co-Founder, Sama Learning
http://www.samalearning.net
Barbara DeHart fell in love with technology early in her life and has spent her career leading businesses in media & entertainment technology. Barbara recently co-founded Sama Learning whose purpose is to use technology to teach technology, particularly in STEM. The Sama VR Learning Platform, even in its earliest versions is producing a full letter grade improvement in learning for 1st year college chemistry students. And in some college classes, we are reducing the failure rate to zero. Barbara holds a bachelor’s degree from University of San Francisco.
Sophia Batchelor, Senior, UC Berkeley, Vice President,
Virtual Reality at Berkeley
https://vr.berkeley.edu/team.html
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Hailing from New Zealand, I'm a student at UC Berkeley. With a background in neurobiology and behavioural psychology; I gravitated towards hard to answer questions, and classes that made me think about new solutions to old problems. I'm determined, I'm committed, and above all I strive to do "better".
XR Super Girls Program:
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9:30 - 10:15 Check-in & XR Demo Session
10:15 - 10:20 Welcome & Introductions
10:20 - 11:00 Meet Female Professionals Leading the Way in XR
11:00 - 11:50 Mentoring and Coaching Sessions
11:50 - 12:00 Closing Remarks
12:00 - 12:30 XR Demo Session
