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Luna to Host Annual Girls Can! Event
IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE
Luna to Host Annual Girls Can! Event
For the fifth consecutive year, Luna Community College will host the local AAUW Girls Can! event. In 2026, the event will take place on Thursday, April 16, at Luna’s main campus in Las Vegas.
Girls Can! is a program of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Las Vegas Branch. Women who have achieved success in various fields—especially those not traditionally seen as women’s careers—will serve as featured presenters, leading hands-on workshops and sharing their experiences with students about educational and career opportunities.
In 2025, 139 fifth-grade girls from schools in San Miguel, Mora, Colfax, and Guadalupe counties participated in the Girls Can! event at Luna, each attending four of the 12 hands-on workshops or presentations offered. This year, participation is expected to grow to up to 181 girls, with 13 hands-on workshops planned.
Dr. Mary Shaw, Highlands University emerita professor, and Ms. Carla Romero, Luna CC emerita instructor, have been involved with Girls Can! for several years and are serving as this year’s event coordinators. They are joined by many AAUW members who continue to contribute to the event’s success.
“The young ladies attending this year’s events will see all the exciting and new programs Luna has to offer while also experiencing a college campus and meeting successful women
professionals,” said Dr. Carol Linder, President of Luna CC. “The hope is that many will consider going into some of these fields.”
According to Romero, the local AAUW branch has been hosting the Girls Can! event in Las Vegas for nearly two decades, with surrounding county schools participating since 2017. She noted that AAUW’s mission focuses on reducing early gender bias and encouraging female students to pursue higher education, including fields in which they have not traditionally been represented.
Romero, who grew up in Wagon Mound, shared that while she had strong role models such as teachers and principals, exposure to a wider range of career fields was limited.
“We want Girls Can! participants to think girls can be anything they want to be, as long as they work at it,” Romero said. “They shouldn’t limit themselves. They shouldn’t limit the careers they pursue.”
Professors, instructors, and career professionals from Luna, Highlands, and the community will serve as presenters. Workshops will cover a wide variety of topics, including an introduction to nursing, forestry, computer coding, dental sciences, welding, and more.
In addition to the workshops, participants will spend the day experiencing the Luna campus,including having lunch in the cafeteria, prepared by the Luna Eats Program in conjunction with the Luna Culinary Arts Program