Physics Wonder Girls Program: Celebrating Ten Years of Supporting Middle School Girls in STEM

On the occasion of its tenth year, the Physics Wonder Girls Program continues to stimulate and sustain interest in STEM and in paticular, physics, among middle school and high school girls. We report and reflect on the activities, programming and milestones of the camp through the last ten years, including during the pandemic. This year, the free Physics summer program supported 32 rising 8th and 9th graders selected from a pool of high-performing students in the Philadelphia-New Jersey region participated in an intensive week-long immersive program held on the University City campus of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia.Participants came from over 20 distinct schools. <any came from diverse, underserved communities and were introduced to renewable energy and the basics of solar cells, and built and tested solar-powered fidget spinners, solar cars, solar trackers, solar cookers, wind turbines, hands-on optics experiments and an introductory session on quantum information and simulations. Campers received a free kit of materials for projects and experiments, including a free digital multimeter. Campers interacted with physics and STEM majors who serve as crew, women physicists and engineers, toured R&D centers and manufacturing facilities of a multinational food company, and gave capstone presentations. Several past graduates of the camp returned to the camp as STEM professionals and college students, this time as speakers. We report on the products of the camp, status of graduates, program assessments, and where the program is headed in the future.