1. Sci-Tech-Girls from Austria Our trip to France

2. Sci Tech Girls Our Sci-Tech-Girls-group consists of Sarah Haslinger, Veronika Necker, Ruth Schneeberger and Pia Hocheneder (from left to right). Sarah and Veronika are in 12th grade, their last year in school. Ruth and Pia are in 9th grade. We are all very interested in technology, and this was the reason why we were chosen to travel to France and participate in the Sci Tech Girls debate! We are the Sci-Tech-Girls from Austria and we are attending BG/BRG Dr.Schauerstraße high school in Wels. To the right you can see a photo of our school. Albeit traditional in appearance, our school’s main focus are several languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Latin) all the while relying heavily on information technology. Most classes use computers and the internet for various purposes, some even participate in competitions. We are currently involved in the FLL, a contest in programming “Lego”- robots.

3. The Lessons Learnt  Keep on following your dreams – don‘t let yourself be intimidated by anybody.  Women can be successful in technical jobs as well.  Men are not more talented in technology than women!  Do whatever you want!  Don‘t try to be a man,make it clear that you are a woman with all weaknesses and strengths!

4. The impact upon our vision! It was fascinating to hear so many different life stories first-hand, meeting extraordinary women and seeing how they made their dreams come true. This encouraged us to model our lives similar to theirs and follow through on our ambitions. Two of us did not know exactly what they want to become, but now they are sure that they want to pursue technological careers. The two other girls have been reaffirmed in their decision to study technological subjects.

5. Itinerary Our stay in France lasted four days. First we went to Paris, where we spent the night in a     hotel. On the second day we went to Deauville, where we visited a research centre on horses and in the evening we met the girls in their senior year from Deauville high school. Talking with them was a lot of fun and we were able to improve our English and French. The main event and highlight of the trip was extremely exciting. We met lots of successful women who told us their impressive life stories. Back in Paris we visited the Triumphal Arch and walked down the Champs Elysées. After that we had ourselves a little shopping tour in the Galeries Lafayettes. We were very sad that we had to go back to Austria and leave our new friends behind, because we enjoyed our stay in France. But we exchanged our e-mail addresses and we are still in contact.