The STEM Quilt Project

By American Quilter's Society
Aug 26, 2025

by Iris Frank

What is STEM?

STEM is an acronym for Science / Technology / Engineering / Mathematics

commonly used when referring to a field of education and careers that focus on these four core disciplines.

This past February, two members of the Pajaro Valley Quilt Association (PVQA), in Santa Cruz County, CA, had a casual conversation about a scheduled STEM summer camp (officially, Tech Trek Camp Carson) to take place on the University of California, Santa Cruz campus. One of the members had never heard of STEM, and the other was the Camp Director of the upcoming event.

Tech Trek Camp Carson is named in honor of Rachel Carson, whose groundbreaking work helped spark the modern environmental movement and ultimately led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Her 1962 book, Silent Spring, exposed the harmful effects of chemical pesticides and played a pivotal role in the U.S. ban on DDT.

Tech Trek campers are selected based on recommendations by their science or math teachers. Since its inception in 1998, 15,000 young girls have attended Tech Trek camp at one of 22 sites throughout the U.S., all of which are sponsored by the American Association of University Women.

This one-of-a-kind opportunity is designed specifically for middle-school-aged girls, a group that historically faces barriers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The result is a known shortage of women in STEM-related careers, beginning with a documented decline in interest and participation in STEM classes by girls after middle school. Tech Trekkers spend a week living on a university campus, participating in labs and classes which foster their interest in STEM fields, as well as meeting and hearing successful women from a diverse range of STEM careers.

Studies have consistently shown that girls who complete Tech Trek have both the interest and the confidence to pursue additional STEM classes in high school and college more often than the national average, and they often continue on to pursue STEM careers.[i]

The Pajaro Valley Quilt Association, in existence for over 45 years, has a long history of community outreach. For years, one of their annual endeavors has been to make a quilt for each young person attending Camp Erin, a bereavement camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains for youth (ages 7 to 17) grieving the death of a significant person in their lives.

During the conversation between the two PVQA members, Doreen O'Donovan (the Tech Trek camp director) explained to Iris Frank (who knew nothing of STEM), “We’re not just teaching skills — we’re opening doors, challenging stereotypes, and nurturing the confidence these girls need to pursue STEM careers.” From there, the conversation quickly morphed into the idea of making a STEM-based quilt for each of the Tech Trek campers! When the idea was presented to guild members in March, the response was, "Why not? But we don't have much time," as Tech Trek was scheduled for the middle of July.

All the quilts were to be constructed using either STEM-related fabrics or designs — biology, the universe, lab equipment and microscopes, mathematical equations, architectural schemes, figures of sacred geometry…whatever. Limited only by fabric (cotton) and size (50-55" x 65-70"), the choice of subject and method of construction was left entirely to the individual quilter. With that, the project was off and running, although questions were continuous and sometimes frantic: “Is this even possible?” “How many more quilts do we need?” “Are we going to make it?”

With the assistance of two neighboring quilt guilds — South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild and Monterey Peninsula Quilt Guild — and a few friends, along with donations of batting and fabric for backing, long-arm quilting and binding services volunteered by guild members, not to mention the persistent and exhaustive efforts to organize and coordinate the process by Iris and her STEM Quilt Project Co-Chair, Heidi Sandkuhle, not only 80 but 121 quilts were delivered by July 1^st from which the girls could choose their favorite.

Following camp registration, the girls entered a large room with the quilts displayed in the four STEM groups. At registration, each girl was assigned to one of the groups and given a “chit” for the order of quilt selection — first to register, first to pick. Thus, each group of 20 girls had 30 quilts from which to choose.

Each girl (often with parents in tow) looked over the quilts, usually considered several, and then selected her favorite. Naturally, some girls took longer than others. Each was photographed with her quilt as she left to bid her parents goodbye and find her assigned campus dorm room.

Dovetailing with the quilt give-away, one of the classes offered in the STEM curriculum was Quilt Math, which, from all accounts, was very well received!

On Campfire Night — the final event of the camp — a number of the girls were cozily wrapped in their quilts to counter the typical cool foggy Monterey Bay summer evening.

For PVQA, our goal was twofold — to give each girl a remembrance of their STEM experience, the knowledge they gained, and the like-minded friends they met, as well as just maybe to instill an interest in quilting!