To change your world, you must get involved.

That is the message that a group of nearly 50 female minority Chicago public high school students will be receiving as they gather on DePaul University’s Lincoln Park Campus for a summer technology camp July 20-25.

The weeklong "Girls With Engineering Mindz (GEMz)," event, sponsored by DePaul, seeks to provide urban youths with a well-rounded exposure to technology and life skills topics and to immerse them in a collegiate environment for one week. This year, the camp will focus on political campaigns and the role of technology in the political process, especially at the community level.

The goals of the GEMz program is to teach participants technical skills database design and development, practice team-building techniques, build public speaking skills and enhance social development and interest in community service. Over the course of the week, campers will work in teams to gather information required to run and support a political campaign for a mock Chicago aldermanic race, including a multimedia component where the students will film and edit a 30-second commercial. On July 25, Chicago alderman Shirley Coleman (16th Ward) is scheduled to stop by the camp to judge the final presentations from all of the teams at 9:30 a.m. in Room 100 of the Levan Center, 2322 N, Kenmore Ave.

"We want our participants to become more aware of the political process and the issues that affect their communities," said Donna Grant-Chapple, DePaul adjunct faculty in computer science and one of the conference’s organizers. "This emphasizes our vision to encourage GEMz participants to utilize technology for the betterment of their community and society, as a whole."

The program features three tiers: an academic and technology tier that focuses on technical skill building; a personal development and team-building tier that explores basic life skills while working in a team environment; and a social development tier that exposes the participants to a variety of experiences that promote healthy social interaction. Sessions will be taught by DePaul faculty, graduate students in computer science and outside instructors. The program was developed by Grant-Chapple and DePaul graduate students Chandrea Brown and Toni Perrien.

The emphasis of the academic and technology tier will be for each team to develop a political campaign utilizing multimedia and database technology. In the second tier, the students will take part in formal team-building exercises, promoting trust and open communication. In the social development tier classes, participants will unwind with cultural dance classes and nightly reflection sessions. For more information on the GEMz Technology Camp, contact Grant-Chapple via e-mail at dgrant@cs.depaul.edu

DePaul is the largest private educational institution in Chicago and the largest Catholic university in the nation. A richly diverse population of 23,227 students attends classes on two city and six suburban campuses. The university has a number of ongoing programs aimed at bridging the "Digital Divide" that exists in American society.

DePaul was founded in 1898 by the Vincentian Fathers and Brothers (the Congregation of the Mission), a Roman Catholic religious community that continues the mission and values of Vincent de Paul, the 17th century French saint known as the "Apostle of Charity."

DePaul CTI is the one of the largest computer science programs in the country, enrolling more than 4,000 students in its undergraduate and graduate degree programs. For more information on DePaul CTI, visit http://www.cdm.depaul.edu/Pages/default2.aspx.