Sally Ride Festival geared for girls

In 1983, Sally Ride rode the shuttle Challenger into orbit and became the first woman in space. She's spent the years since making sure many, many other women are ready to follow her - not only into space, but into careers that rely heavily on science and mathematics.

She founded Sally Ride Science in 2001 to provide materials and programs that help get girls and young women more interested in those subjects. And the University of Alabama in Huntsville and Northrop Grumman are helping her this week, hosting and sponsoring the Sally Ride Science Festival for girls in grades 5-8 from 11 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Saturday at the UAH Fitness Center.

"It ought to be a great one," Ride said in an interview from her office in San Diego. "This is going to be an event that is a lot of fun."

Ride's fellow ex-astronaut Jan Davis - a graduate of Huntsville High and UAH and a veteran of three shuttle missions - will be the featured speaker Saturday. But Ride emphasized that the festival isn't just about space stuff.

The day begins with a "street fair" of music, food, hands-on activity booths and more. Later, the girls break up into groups for workshops on a variety of topics, including forensic science, medicine, veterinary medicine and more. Ride said the festival will even feature a workshop called "Kitchen biotechnology: a fruitful experience in DNA extraction."

"So there are a lot of different fields represented," she said.

The girls will get the chance to talk with local female engineers and scientists. And there will also be special workshops for parents and teachers.

The $18 fee to attend the festival includes lunch, and advance registration is required. Call 800-561-5161 or visit www.sallyridefestivals.com to sign up or for more information.

Over the last five years there have been more than 50 Sally Ride Science Festivals across the country. This is the second at UAH, and Ride said she has heard rave reviews about last year's.

"Huntsville really is a community that values science and engineering," said Ride, who spent a lot of time in the Rocket City during her NASA career.

She said Sally Ride Science is focusing on grades 5-8 because those are the years when students in general - but many more girls - are most likely to lose interest in science and math as there are other distractions and greater peer pressure.

"It's really important to be 'cool,' " Ride said. "So, we're trying to show the girls science is cool."