Every Wednesday for the past eight weeks, 28 second and third grade girls at Rice Square Elementary School came together to work in teams and create their own race cars out of everyday items.

“There are a lot of girls, which is awesome because it’s a really great program for them,” said Emily Mercier, a program specialist. “I’m hoping now they see themselves as engineers. I hope it opens their eyes to not only what science is but also the process.”

The teams, which are part of the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts (GSCWM), were tasked with picking items from recycling bins to engineer their own working cars.

“We started with friction and what friction is and how it might come into play with mechanics,” Mercier said. “I’m hoping that they learned a little bit of the science behind it but also the process of trial and error and collecting the data of how fast the car goes down the track.”

They started off with water bottles and other scraps like putty and straws. The girls then graduated to wooden cars and then legos. At each level they would test the time the cars took to go down a cardboard ramp and then revamp and reconstruct.

The girls earned their Mechanical Engineering: Race Car badges Wednesday, December 8.

The girls participated in the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts community-based program, It’s a Girls World. The program, which is completely free, was developed in hopes of serving girls in under-resourced areas.

“They’re very excited to be Girl Scouts,” Mercier said. “To me this is what Girl Scouts is. I was a Girl Scout for all the time that you can be…My mom was my leader and we took in any girl that wanted to be a Girl Scout no matter their background or age…I think it’s an amazing opportunity especially to serve girls that are outside maybe the average socio-cultural status. It’s what Girl Scouts is.”

This year’s program’s goal was to serve 150 girls in the City of Worcester. According to Dana Carnegie, GSCWM’s communications manager, many girls in the city have historically had barriers to participating in the traditional Girl Scout troop model due to issues such as transportation.

Lynnette Diaz, the Assistant Principal at Rice Square School, added that, since the pandemic, interactions and opportunities like this for these girls are beyond necessary and helpful.

“It’s so important for our students to be actively participating in afterschool activities after 18 months of being home,” Diaz said. “During that period, they didn’t have the opportunity to socialize with peers. Programs like the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts have provided them again an opportunity to socialize with peers and learn to build and utilize that community that they didn’t have for the past 18 months.”

Diaz noted that she has seen change within her students beyond the program as well. She said that the reason Diaz continues to work with the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts for the past eight years — at the Rice Square School and the school Diaz previously worked at — is due to the fact she sees the girls utilizing the skills they learn within the program in social situations in and outside of the classroom.

“The Rice Square School community is excited and grateful for our 4th successful and consecutive year of partnership with the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts,” Diaz said. “Throughout the past four years of partnership with the Girl Scouts, we have noticed how their different programs have helped participating students to build confidence, develop a stronger sense of self, build leadership and team building skills, recognize and establish healthy relationships, obtain appropriate tools to resolve conflicts, use critical thinking skills, anti-bullying strategies, etc.”

Diaz also thinks that the role models that Mercier and the other women of the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts serve as are important for the students.

“They need to have that opportunity to see women in leadership,” Diaz said. “I think we’re providing an opportunity for them to develop their leadership skills and critical thinking skills and that confidence that they need for their futures. We’re building the future leaders.”

The Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts have also been working with Rice Square Elementary School’s kindergarten and first grade students, who are part of the Daisy Scout program, as they pursue their Mechanical Engineering: Board Games badge.

Diaz said that she is looking forward to working with the Girl Scouts for more programs in the future.

“The program is very special in our school and in our community,” Diaz said.

The program is funded through grants from The Women’s Foundation of Boston and DCU for Kids.