"Flying Monkeys" Invited to Present at International Conference on Science in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Jun 12, 2012, 02:59 ET

NEW YORK, June 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- They've earned a $20,000 grant, obtained a patent, visited the White House, met the president, changed the life of a little girl, and are now taking their one-of-a-kind invention all the way to Brazil!

There is no stopping the "Flying Monkeys," a Girl Scout FIRST® LEGO® League team, comprised of 8th and 9th grade Girl Scouts from Ames and Gilbert, Iowa, who have been invited by the U.S. Department of State to present BOB-1, a uniquely designed prosthetic hand device, at the International Conference on Science in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The girls say they are thrilled they have been invited to the event, which serves as a lead in to the Rio+20 Earth Conference, and can't wait to present their invention, which helped a little girl learn how to write after its creation in the fall of 2010.

"The Flying Monkeys are incredibly honored," Coach Melissa Murray said.

"The girls are very excited and are trying to learn some Portuguese before this rare opportunity to share the BOB-1 Project with the world!"

The team is being sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, FIRST® LEGO® League and Rockwell Collins, and is one of three youth groups in the entire nation invited to present at this prestigious event.

"The Flying Monkeys are a great example of the wonderful work Girl Scouts can do," Anna Maria Chavez, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA said. "Expertise in the STEM subjects is essential to our nation's future, and these girls are leading the way."

The girls have been asked to present their project on June 15 and on June 17 at two different venues and will also be meeting with officials from the Embassy. Murray said the girls plan to do some sight-seeing as well, making for a once in a life time experience for these young women.

According to the Girl Scout Research Institute study Generation STEM: What Girls Say about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, 74 percent of girls — and even higher percentages of African-American and Hispanic girls — say they're interested in STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

The "Flying Monkeys" are a true testament of the amazing feats girls can accomplish and the wonderful opportunities provided by Girl Scouts and FIRST® LEGO® League.

About Girl Scouts of the USA
Founded in 1912, Girl Scouts of the USA is the preeminent leadership development organization for girls with 3.6 million girl and adult members worldwide. Girl Scouting is the leading authority in girls' healthy developments and builds girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place. The organization serves girls from every corner of the United States and its territories. Girl Scouts of the USA also serves American girls and their classmates attending American or international schools overseas in 90 countries. For more info on how to join, volunteer, reconnect or donate to Girls Scouts, call (800) GSUSA 4 U (800-478-7248) or visit www.girlscouts.org.

About Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa
Serving girls in Central and Western Iowa, NE Nebraska and SE South Dakota, Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa provides leadership programming to over 15,000 girls and 4,000 adult volunteers. It is a great time to be a Girl Scout and you can sign up at any time during the year. To find out more about our program, please visit our website at www.girlscoutsiowa.org or call us at 800-342-8389.

About the Girl Scout Research Institute
The Girl Scout Research Institute, formed in 2000, is a vital extension of Girl Scouts of the USA's commitment to addressing the complex and ever-changing needs of girls. Comprised of a dedicated staff and advisors who are experts in child development, academia, government, business, and the not-for-profit sector, the institute conducts groundbreaking studies, releases critical facts and findings, and provides resources essential for the advancement of the well-being and safety of girls living in today's world. The institute also informs public policy and advocacy for Girl Scouting with its research and outreach.

About FIRST® LEGO® League
FIRST is the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams. The idea of FIRST goes back until 1989, only one year after the CERT(r) Coordination Center was created after the infamous Internet worm. Back then incidents already were impacting not only one closed user group or organization, but any number of networks interconnected by the Internet.

It was clear from then on that information exchange and cooperation on issues of mutual interest like new vulnerabilities or wide ranging attacks - especially on core system like the DNS servers or the Internet as a critical infrastructure itself - were the key issues for security and incident response teams.

Since 1990, when FIRST was founded, its members have resolved an almost continuous stream of security-related attacks and incidents including handling thousands of security vulnerabilities affecting nearly all of the millions of computer systems and networks throughout the world connected by the ever growing Internet.

FIRST brings together a wide variety of security and incident response teams including especially product security teams from the government, commercial, and academic sectors.

SOURCE Girl Scouts of the USA