(music playing)
Today we're in this beautiful event center at Google
in Sunnyvale, California.
And we have about 800 girls here over two days.
Building, competing with robots, and doing student empowerment programs with women leaders.
And we're hoping by the end of the weekend,
they go away renewed, filled with joy, and just ready to take on the world.
You have girls who have never built robots, that have never programed robots.
And now two days later, they're on the field,
they’re competing with their robot,
And there's lots of smiles, lots of laughter, lots of fun.
I mean, you can't help but be inspired by these girls that two days ago
didn't even know what robotics is
and now they're talking about becoming the next engineer,
the next scientist, and the next technician.
This is truly, truly an inspirational event.
This is a initiative that is really here to inspire girls.
The tech industry absolutely admits that we have a problem with not having
enough representation from certain groups in leadership and in engineering.
And we need to start by inspiring
more girls to pursue careers in STEM.
There is a home for them here.
They belong at these tables.
They belong in these spaces.
And I believe that robotics is a really wonderful way
for all of these kids to start to learn all of these amazing skills
that can translate over time into really powerful careers.
To be Girl Powered is to see people like yourself thriving
and know that you can do it.
When you look at STEM, there's a bigger disparity for the genders.
So you want girls to know like, “Hey, I can be excellent here.
This can be in my tool kit.
I see people thriving. I can thrive as well.”
So that when you come into these environments where you are,
sometimes one of the only, you have that confidence.
And in time, we'll start to see the outcome that we want to have.
Google is a very proud sponsor of the Girl Powered Initiative.
In technology, we have a lot more men than women.
And by talking to girls and by bringing girls into robotics,
it really shapes them to think about
computer science and technology as a field
that they can participate in and contribute towards.
And they see many other girls doing the same thing,
and it allows for them to think of that as a potential career.
I think it feels rewarding to be able to see
all of these people who have never done robotics before, enjoy it.
When you walk past and you're volunteering,
You can see how much they're enjoying it.
You can see how they're working with their teammates.
And you can see how rewarding it is to them as well when they accomplish something.
They're getting firsthand knowledge of real physical systems.
It's one thing to learn about it in textbooks, and to hear your teacher drone on about it.
It's another thing when you are aiming for a goal that you really want to achieve.
You're engaged with the actual physics, with the actual science of making it all work.
I think it just makes those takeaways so much more solid,
than they would be if it's just book learning.
I think robotics satisfies the curiosity of technology,
but it also teaches the other non-tech skills.
You can not be on a robotics team if you don't have good communication skills,
if you don't learn how to collaborate, if you cannot problem solve.
So now in a future of our students go into engineering, that's great.
But even if they go into non-technical careers,
those problem solving and communication skills will absolutely serve them.
I was the only girl in the class that actually did robotics,
and I felt that more girls needed to learn
that they can also do something in technology too.
There are not enough girls in that field,
mostly because they don't have a chance to try.
So we need to encourage it more and more so that some people can make it.
I was one of the teachers for a mini workshop here.
It was about sensors.
And when we were practicing
we didn't think that many people were going to be interested.
But in our first workshop I asked, “Okay so who wants to try this out?”
And then every single person raised their hand
and that was just a really cool moment.
I think this is an appetizer for them to really start getting more interested.
I think that's what you need in many cases
It’s just enough to get them through the door.
And then the momentum starts to build on their own.
And I can see just from the reactions.
This is not something they're going to forget about.
I truly wish every girl in Silicon Valley and beyond gets this opportunity worldwide.
To really try it hands on and get the benefits of this program.
They can try it out. It's not too bad.
Like it's not complicated.
They can have it all too.
And then, with a little support from the general society,
we can all work with people around the globe together.
It is really the future of the world.
When we think about how we'll solve issues like climate change.
How we'll develop the next generation of technologies.
It's all going to happen through STEM.
And so the more that we can have diversity as part of that,
it means the entire world gets to participate.
Don’t hesitate to just give it a shot.
We kind’ve just took a leap of faith and we said, "We’re gonna try this out, and see how it works out."
And it worked out really well for us.
And if they don’t try, they might never know what they’re missing out on
Failing is totally okay.
The number of robots we’ve fully built out, which has utterly failed is insane.
The most important thing is to just continue on, iterate, build the next one.
Because these teams are already better than we were when we were their age.
So there’s such limitless possibilities, they just have to push through a few obstacles in the way.
If you've ever been the only of one type of person in a room
where you're trying to have a better life and you're trying to better yourself,
and you've ever dealt with that kind of intimidation.
You would see that any event that brings people together
who are the minority, and allows them to be the majority.
What a beautiful, empowering experience that is because it allows them
to be their best self, to be comfortable,
so they can focus, so they can really test,
Can I do this in a safe and inclusive environment?