Just Be

Just Be is an interactive experience created by Women in Computing and presented, free of charge, at regional K-12 schools. The goal of the interactive experience is to break common stereotypes about people in computing. The presentation begins with an introduction of presenters to give audience members an idea of what the presenters did while they were in school. During the interactive component, audience members use eInstruction voting modules to participate in fun polls challenging personal stereotypes. Just Be concludes by describing interesting fields of computing to spark people's involvement in computing.

A typical presentation lasts about 45 minutes, can be customized to the age group of the audience, and includes hands-on activities such as controlling a toy robot and simulating a sorting network. For high-schoolers, an overview of cutting-edge multi-disciplinary projects currently underway in the School of Informatics is provided, as well as career information and curricular advice. Presenters are undergraduate and graduate students at Indiana University.

Presentations

Now in its fifth year, Just Be has been presented at the following local schools:

• Summit Elementary School
• Tri-North Middle School
• Batchelor Middle School
• Harmony Education Center
• Bloomington High School South
• Bloomington High School North

After-school clubs, fairs and camps are also possible venues. To schedule a Just Be experience for your group, visit the following site and fill out the online interest form.

The Just Be chair for 2008-2009 is Samantha Foley and the K-12 Outreach Coordinator is Kate Minelli. Contact Kate at (812) 855-6038 if you have any questions.