Cyber Sisters Club

Sponsored by the Housing Authority
of the City of Allentown

History
In 1997, the Cyber Sisters Club at Penn State Lehigh Valley was formed as an after school activity for girls from an inner city elementary school in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The club was created to bridge the "Digital Divide" experienced by students who had no access to the Internet at school or at home. Many of the girls who attended lived in the Hanover Acres Housing Project.

Since then, a new group of 5th grade girls from Mosser Elementary School have joined the Cyber Sisters Club each year. We try at all times to provide a supportive learning environment with the emphasis on fun and creativity, to attract girls who might not otherwise have an interest in technology. During club activities the girls meet women who enjoy working with technology.

Activities
Activities include exploring the Internet, learning about computers, and creating a personal Web page based on brief autobiographical writing. The web pages of all the Cyber Sisters as well as curriculum materials are displayed at the Cyber Sisters site.

Faculty
Deborah Peters, a Fellow in the Lehigh Valley Writing Project and a teacher at Northwestern Middle School, has worked with the girls in the Cyber Sisters Club for the past three years.

Schedule
Each spring, the girls are brought to the computer lab at Penn State Lehigh Valley for the after school program one afternoon a week for seven weeks.

Program Contact: Judy Sandt
jsandt@psu.edu

© 2005 Penn State Lehigh Valley