November 11, 2025

Kudos to Lafayette staff, faculty, and students who led Girl Scout Badge Day

A Lafayette volunteer sits at a table as she helps a Girl Scout construct a rover out of recycled materials.
A young Brownie scout is poised to throw a paper airplane.
Join us for the third annual Girl Scout Badge Day! (Photo | JaQuan Alston)
A young Girl Scout in a Brownie vest throws a paper airplane as part of a test to earn her fling flier badge
Two SWE volunteers in Lafayette shirts are centered at a table working with a group of Girl Scouts building paper airplanes.
Two Girl Scout Brownies are shown with two Lafayette volunteers as they launch their fling fliers in the air.
A scout beams as two Lafayette volunteers are pictured in the background.
Prof. Jenn Rossman and Lafayette volunteers work at a table in the Dyer Center
5 Cadette scouts stand in front of a whiteboard in the Dyer Center during a presentation.
Prof Courtney Ryan holds one finger in the air as she gestures to a group of Daisy scouts.
Four daisy scouts pose on stage in Williams Arts Center with a Lafayette student during the Art and Design Badge.
The back of a green Girl Scout vest is covered in patches is shown.
Beth Sica and Ana Ramirez Luhrs work with scouts seated at tables in the Gendebien Room.
Three scouts make silly faces and show a peace sign for the camera. They're seated in Gendebien Room working on their playing the past badge.
A Girl Scout leader and mom smile as they work together to build a mars rover.
A Girl Scout builds a Mars rover with recylced materials.
A Girl Scout sits on the floor with recycled materials in front of her, ready to create a Mars rover.
11 Girl Scouts stand in front of a whiteboard showing off their Mars rover creations.
Sofia Serrano Assistant Professor Computer Science teaches in front of scouts at a whiteboard.
Two Lafayette student volunteers stand in a classroom in RISC as young Girl Scouts dance during Badge Day.
Lauren Biernacki holds up a paper in front of scouts during her coding session.
Lauren Biernacki gestures to the group as she presents a coding badge to Girl Scouts.
Lauren Biernacki Assistant Professor Computer Science|Electrical and Computer Engineering, led a session on coding. (Photo | Kelly Huth)
Prof. Alex Brown works with 4 scouts in the robotics lab and is demonstrating how to build the robot.
A Lafayette engineering student works with 3 high school scouts in front of a computer as they learn to build and program robots.
The inner parts of a robot are shown.

Thank you to the incredible Lafayette students, staff, faculty, and alumni who helped to make Lafayette’s second annual Girl Scout Badge Day successful!

More than 80 local Girl Scouts (grades K-12) registered for the Nov. 9 event and got the chance to explore campus and learn, build, and create alongside the experts. More than 60 Lafayette faculty, staff, and students shared their time, talents, and expertise in sessions that had scouts building robots, engineering fling fliers, working on stage, creating Mars rovers, and exploring STEM careers. This year’s badges included: Good Neighbor, Art and Design, Coding Basics, Numbers in Nature, STEM Career Explorer, Fling Flier, Space Science, Playing the Past, Cybersecurity Safeguards, Truth Seeker, Eco Explorer, College Knowledge, and Programming Robots!

Thank you to the planning team for sharing your time and talents: Chris Tomik ’03, Jodi Fowler, Jenn Rossmann, Lauren Anderson, and Lisa Karam. 

Thank you to our instructors for sharing your expertise and guidance as scouts explored new career paths: Profs. Lauren Biernacki, Alex Brown, Stephanie Douglas, Courtney Ryan, and Sofia Serrano; as well as Ana Ramirez Luhrs, Beth Sica, Rita Chesterton, Rebecca McCall, Samantha Comas, Courtney Dalton, Zach Whitney, and Alex Owens; and students Katie Simpson ’26, Claire Coker ’27, Rae Shepard ’26, Angela Aguilar ’28, Isabela Baez ’28, Lexi Handelman ’28, Jack Finegold ’28, Eszter Hiscott ’26, Julia Balulis ’26, Paolo Garcia ’27, Madison Horvath ’26, Maya Maynard ’27, Nyali Latz-Torres ’28, Margaret Magnuson ’27, Ava Holland ’27, Lindsay Barber ’27, Anabelle Brueggeman ’27, Sophia Gaysinskiy ’26, Makenna McCall ’27, Yazlyn Nunez ’26, Laura Muñoz Lembcke ’28, Kyle Dominic Martinez ’26, Sydney Friedman ’26, and the Society of Women Engineers.

Thank you to our volunteers, and those who helped to coordinate supplies and logistics for the event: Abbey Dieppa ’28, Sarah Judas ’28, Caroline McLaughlin ’28, Alivia Bear ’28, Jaylene Martinez ’26, Angela Lyu ’28, Gia Mazza ’26, Hillary Inga ’28, Sofie Purtova ’27, Kylie Walker ’26, London Jones ’26, Shama Georges ’29, Sandra Djayeola ’28, Amy Fabara ’27, Marta Kepka, Sarah Morgan, Jamie Kardelis, and Kacey Oberlander.

Thank you to the departments and organizations that made this event possible: Engineering Division, Landis Center for Community Engagement, Lafayette College Libraries, Physics Department, Lafayette Arts, Dyer Center, Admissions, Sustainability, Alpha Phi Omega, and Women in Computing.

Submitted by: Kelly Huth