Val Vilott, Outreach Associate

	The author, learning “what makes cars go,” loves mechanics almost as much as she loves equality.

When I was 14 years old, I went to aviation camp. That’s right. Aviation camp.

On the first day, we learned about rocketry. We all put together hand-made mini-rockets and trotted outside to see if we could make them fly. My rocket, on which I had carefully scribed the name “VALocity,” went higher than the rest.

As my dad drove me home that day, I interrupted my own bubbling enthusiasm for rocketry to say, “Oh. And I’m the only girl at camp.”

I’ll never forget his response: “That doesn’t matter. Girls can build great rockets, too. And cars. And airplanes. Some of my best students have been girls. Don’t forget that.”

My dad is a former helicopter pilot who never graduated college. He teaches airframe mechanics at a vocational school, and he has a knack for teaching. When I was 7, he taught me the basic concepts of flight (lift and drag). When I was 9, he took me out to rotate the tires on his car because I said I was ‘bored.’ When I was 14, we spent months piecing together what would become my first car – a Pepto-Bismol pink, 1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle.