LAWRENCE — Melanie Peguero was startled when she clicked on the computer mouse and heard a kitten meow.

"Wow, that's cool," said Melanie, 9, a third-grader at Guilmette School. Melanie and a dozen other girls, aged 9 to 14, were learning computer basics as they advance to create robots from components using picocrickets — tiny computers that make things, spin, light up and play music, to plan a carnival.

They are part of Viva Computing, an after-school program designed to interest Hispanic girls in technology and computers. The program meets once a month for eight sessions at Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence at 136 Water St.

Ethel Schuster and Lilliana Brand, faculty members at Northern Essex Community College, oversee the program. Assisted by students Oscar Adames and Damon Robinson, the girls explore computer technologies and how they can be use in a variety of professional fields.

"The more knowledge they have about technology, the more interested they become," Schuster said.

Janelyn Pimental, Janelys Torres and Diandra Ayala huddled around Adames as he showed them how to set color, turn the lights on and off, and the many sounds they can use from crickets, horses, geese and dogs.

"It's really important that they learn everything they can now, so they can be prepared for when they go to high school," said Adames, a computer engineering student.

Adames and Robinson were demonstrating how the computers respond to sound, and how they react to light and darkness.

Adames said his own sister, Evelyn, was more interested in art and dance but now computers with all their gadgets and programs are piquing her interest.

Robinson, who is studying Web design and development, has seen more female students in the computer and technology classes at Northern Essex.

The number of women taking classes does not surprise Mariana Alegria, 9, Brand's daughter.

Already a computer whiz, she used cardboard to make a house, decorated with wall paper, furniture, bedding and accessories. It only took her three hours. She used picocrickets to open doors, make sounds and lights that go on and off.

"It's very simple and exciting," said Mariana, a student at St. Augustine School, Andover.

The program is supported by a Science, Technology, Engineering & Math Pipeline Fund grant that Northern Essex and Middlesex community colleges received from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.