Midtown Teen Working Early To Be A Female Pioneer

ATLANTA -- Midtown resident Madison Kenney recently received the Society of Women Engineers SWE NEXT Community Award in Baltimore. She will also receive a YOU Award next March in Atlanta which recognizes and supports the education of youth members of Georgia who have chosen an exceptional path and have performed outstanding works in their communities.

These awards, along with many others she has received, is just a testament to the hard work the 9th grader has put into not only her career goal of becoming a mechatronics engineer, but to the hard work she's put into other girls as well.

Madison, 15, is currently coaching four all-girls underwater robotics teams at the Andrew and Walter Young YMCA. Her team, the RoboChicks, scored the highest score at the Southern Georgia League Tournament and are the only All Girls Team in Georgia to make it to state so far. Her team has also already won a variety of awards including the Inspire Award (the highest award in FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics Competition) and Finalist Alliance Award.

"I meet with my girls every week to train them for competition," said Madison. "Our meetings include going over the rules of the game, game strategy, documenting everything in an engineering notebook and guiding the girls to use a drill and soldering iron during the build safely."

Madison is always grateful to receive awards, but she is hopeful that her students can reach the same success that she has. "It's really exciting and I enjoy the moment," she said. "I hope to write more grants this Fall to help get more girls get into STEM."

Madison attends Georgia Connections Academy, a statewide virtual charter school providing free, completely online 6-12 education to students in every county, and is also dual enrolled at Gwinnett Technical College Engineering Technology Major. Her mother, Bisa Kenney, credits virtual schooling for giving her daughter the flexibility to manage the multiple items on her plate.

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Images Madison Kenney