The University of Toronto’s Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, Dr. Cristina Amon felt compelled to personally reach out to 9-year-old Timmins girl Cash Cayen after learning that the Timmins Public Library initially refused her entry into their robotics program simply because she is a girl.

The full story, starting from day explaining what happened when Cash initially walked into the TPL from day 1 is available to read here 

While Cayen’s online petition garnered thousands of signatures showing support, her story was also catching the attention of females in the engineering business from around the globe.

When Cash first showed interest in engineering and robotics, her chances of fostering that passion and curiosity seemed to be zero to none after she was refused by the TPL. While the Timmins Public Library issued a formal apology, welcoming Cash into the program – she now has more options than ever to choose from.

One of those offers is coming directly from Dean Cristina Amon, who says they have made incredible progress in attracting young women into the engineering field – a predominately male oriented career. She says, this year the University of Toronto’s first-year engineering class was 30.6% female – the highest of any entering engineering class in Canada.

Amon explains in detail what they are offering Cash this summer (as seen above)

She says, several outreach programs are available at the U of T throughout the summer and the one they are offering Cash is co-ed for both girls and boys between the ages of 9 to 12 years old. Amon says most of these programs are co-ed, however there is one robotics program specifically just for girls.

Though she has yet to hear back from the Cayen family, this is the exact invitation letter that Dean/Dr. Cristina Amon sent to Cash Cayen’s family. She hopes the University of Toronto will hear back from Cash soon for this once in a lifetime opportunity

Dr Cristina Amon (Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering)
(picture shared via http://www.engineering.utoronto.ca/about/our-people/office-of-the-dean/cristina-amon-dean/)

Here’s more information on the summer program that Cash was invited to, called Jr. DEEP: http://outreach.engineering.utoronto.ca/pre-university-programs/jr-deep/