University student Sarah Eisenmenger hopes to see more girls studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics

A former Coast student now studying robotics says being the only girl in a class of 20 pushed her to inspire more females to tackle the subject. Here is how she is doing it.

Budding Coast entrepreneur Sarah Eisenmenger is on a mission to inspire girls to excel at science, tehcnology, engineering and mathematics subjects.

Budding Coast entrepreneur Sarah Eisenmenger is on a mission to create a passion in young girls for school subjects usually dominated by boys.

The 18-year-old QUT first year business and engineering student said she was the only girl when at high school in a class of 20 boys studying robotics at Chancellor State College.

“I really wanted something to change during my time at Chancellor,” Ms Eisenmenger said.

“I started doing these lunch time activities every Tuesday – the club was only open to girls to try and invite more to come in.

Girls take part in a Zest Robotics workshop at Peregian’s Digital Hub.

“It was to try and create a more safe learning environment where girls didn’t feel pressured – it was called the RoboGems program, a push to get girls into engineering, maths and science.”

She said she was guided by Year 9 extension maths teacher Simon Richardson, who was the college robotics co-ordinator.

“He was a really big influence during my time in school, he inspired me to start robotics, he was the one who told me to keep at it,” Ms Eisenmenger said.

“When I look back at it, doing robotics was probably my favourite part of my time at high school and I had such a strong sense of community and family.

“I’m still really close friends with all the guys I met, our families have big parties.”

In 2018 her RoboGems team entered and won the 2018 Sunshine Coast Mayor’s Telstra Technology Awards by fabricating an automated indoor agricultural system over eight weeks.

It was a springboard for her school team to travel to Houston in the US in 2019 to compete at the First Robotics Championship.

They finished second in one of three sections.

“After that I felt I had a lot of experience behind me so that’s why I formed Zest Robotics – I wanted to bring robotics to the greater community, not just my school,” Ms Eisenmenger said.

“It’s a woman-led initiative to create more interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics among female students.”

Ms Eisenmenger will run eight workshops at the Sunshine Coast during the upcoming school holidays, including at the Peregian Digital Hub, while also “juggling two jobs at the moment as well”.

She believes the young girls she mentors are keen on innovative problem solving to go along with their technical robotic skills.

“The girls are absolutely amazing and they are so incredibly creative,” Ms Eisenmenger said.

Her trailblazing talents have already been recognised at QUT where she was awarded a scholarship worth $24,000 over three years.

Back at her old college she has left a learning legacy programmed to last through each new generation of RoboGems.

Ms Eisenmenger said there were still vacancies for the Zest Peregian workshops on July 1 and 2 for girls aged between 9-14.

Just go to the Peregian Digital Hub Facebook page for details