Today she heads a 20-member group. Unlike traditional Girl Scout groups, Steckler's group consists of various ages sixth-graders to high school seniors and includes girls from all over the San Diego area. Steckler's objective is to strengthen the girls' interest in science and to encourage them to consider careers in science. The group explores a variety of science-oriented disciplines, including biology, nuclear physics, geology, and medicine.
Meetings usually consist of a guest speaker or activity related to a topic of the month.
One recent session was a computer-graphics tutorial given by SDSC visualization manager, Mike Bailey, in the SDSC VisLab. At this session the girls learned to use basic computer-graphics techniques to develop their own 3D objects. They also recently heard a lecture on nuclear physics, then toured a power plant. Last summer Steckler and fellow SDSC computational chemist Kim Baldridge took the group on a one-week trip to northern California to visit the Exploratorium, Monterey Bay Aquarium, several universities, national laboratories, museums, and parks. The program gets girls to volunteer one Saturday a month to help prepare and serve lunch to the residents of a local shelter.