I was invited back to the Girls Get Connected Conference at Simmons College for the fourth year in a row. The GGC is an annual 1 day of workshops held to get middle school girls excited about science, math, and technology in Boston.

I ran a 2 part workshop entitled “Truth and the Image.” The girls were taught how to make realistic photos of themselves using Adobe Photoshop and retouched a headshot of a model using Photoshop techniques. Then we circled up and loooked through magazines to see if we could tell whether the models in the ads were retouched or not.

Check it out for yourself here : http://homepage.mac.com/gapodaca/digital/bikini/index.html

In an age when youth are bombarded by media, it is important to teach them, especially females, how to be critical of the messages and images thrown at them. It is even more empowering to show them how to produce their own messages.

I had a wonderful time! The conference is always well organized and the girls are enthusiastic. The labs at Simmons are fabulous. I hope the girls had a good time too!