October 14, 2019 – On September 18th “The Midnight Girls”, as the team is known, joined County officials from Office of Emergency Services, the CEO’s Office and the HOME Team to prepare a project for their first state qualifier competition in November. The girls, all 4th graders at Deer Creek Elementary, decided to form their team after earning their robotics badge in Girl Scouts. “They liked the process so much, they wanted to continue to work together as a team.” Says mom and Assistant Mentor, Shannon Rashby.

Their first assignment: find a challenge in your community and create something to help solve it. With local wildfire being a huge issue, the girls wondered how they might help the homeless population keep our community wildfire free. Like all good inventors, they started with plenty of questions and reached out to staff at the Rood Center for answers. A meeting was set and the girls came prepared to look for solutions. “The meeting made me feel really important because they treated us like adults.” Says team member Marin Lackey.

“It was so great to see all these local leaders take their project seriously.” Adds Shannon Rashby.

“It was inspiring for everyone at Office of Emergency Services to learn young people were interested in helping and learning more. Of course we looked forward to answering their questions but were amazed at their intelligence and poise as they discussed really challenging topics. Their drive and compassion inspired all of us in the room.” says Captain Jeff Pettitt of the Office of Emergency Services.

“The meeting that we had on homeless fires really helped me see the world from a different perspective. I feel grateful for all the kind people who gave us a large amount of their time to help us understand, and answer questions about homelessness and fires.” Says team member Clover Rashby.

“I think the meeting was very interesting. We learned a lot from it and got lots of ideas.” Adds team member Cecilia Baca.

The County track their progress and wishes them the best of luck at the competition.

“I believe that the information presented to us will definitely help solidify the path of their research project, but I also think it encouraged them to see the bigger picture of homelessness and help them to understand the reasons people may choose or be forced into this lifestyle. We were also made aware of other challenges in our community and I’m excited to see how the girls take this information and apply it to their innovation project.” Notes Lead Mentor, Carmelita Wasson

  • The Midnight Girls are:
    Clover Rashby
  • Ashlyn Lampe
  • Sybella Wasson
  • Esther Goldman
  • Marin Lackey
  • Cecilia Baca
  • Carmelita Wasson: Lead Mentor
  • Shannon Rashby: Assistant Mentor

To learn more about Wildfire Prevention and Preparedness please visit ReadyNevadaCounty.org