LEAWOOD, Kan. — March is Women's History Month, and one Brookwood Elementary second-grader has already made her own mark by winning the top prize at an event previously open to boys only.
It all started with a sleek design, according to Genevieve "Gigi" Hoffmann.
"I was thinking an arrow is fast, and it would help with aerodynamics too," the 8-year-old said.
Hoffmann was describing the blue and white miniature car that sat on the kitchen table.
"It's named 'Little Tyreek' after the football player, and it was number 10 just like him," she said.
Gigi's dad helped her make it.
"She's kind of always had that aptitude of wanting to use tools and building something," Jason Hoffmann said.
But for years, there was no place on the track for girls at the Cub Scouts' Pinewood Derby.
"She had asked why can't I be in the Cub Scouts? And I was like, 'Well, that's just for boys,'" her mother, Dana Hoffmann, said. "They have Girl Scouts for girls."
But Gigi didn't accept that answer.
"I think that was silly," Gigi said.
Things began to change in October 2017, when the Boy Scouts of America announced they would soon allow girls to join the Cub Scouting program.
At the start of this school year, Gigi came home with a flier advertising the co-ed pack at Brookwood Elementary School.
"She said, 'Guess what? I can be a Boy Scout! I can be a Cub Scout!'" Dana Hoffman said, remembering her daughter's excitement.
Gigi joined the all-girl den at Brookwood, where earlier this month they faced off against the boys in their first Pinewood Derby.
"It was weird, but we were ready to take them on," Gigi said.
So was her car, "Little Tyreek," which won race after race.
"Actually a lot of the dads kept turning around at me like, 'What did you do with this car?'" Jason Hoffman said with a laugh.
Gigi made it into the championship. The times were tallied, and then came the announcement.
"I'm like, there's no way I'm going to be able to make it to first, and then they go, 'Gigi Hoffmann!' and it was exciting," the second-grader said.
It was an equally exciting moment for her parents.
"When she won, in my mind, I felt like she's making a small piece of history," her mother said.
"I think it's an amazing thing to be able to think that, 'I can do this. There's no limitations,'' Jason Hoffman added.
Gigi certainly isn't limiting herself to just one after-school activity.
"I'm doing Girl Scouts and BSA (Boy Scouts of America)," she said.
