My Story
When I was younger I always knew that I wanted to do something in the STEM field. When I was in fifth grade I joined my first robotics team. I immediately gravitated towards building and programming the robot but I was disappointed by the fact that there were no other girls doing those activities. My team had 10 members, only 2 of which were girls. This experience discouraged me, but my parents urged me to keep going. I moved onto another team where I made sure that my voice was heard. This team was more open to my ideas and I had finally felt accepted. We eventually were able to move on to the First Lego Leauge’s World Championship and had an opportunity to meet and compete with teams from various other countries. Then in eighth grade, I was accepted into another more complex robotics team. In which, out of the 13 kids only two were girls. I had also noticed that other teams in my area lacked female representation with their coaches and members. Many of my friends had lost interest in STEM because they did not feel represented.
Another incident that helped me get interested in being an Engineergirl Ambassador was when I had held a STEM camp for younger children. A mother came up to me with her daughter and asked if the STEM camp was for girls as well. I was shocked to hear from a mom who thought STEM was only for boys, it then dawned on me that not all girls have the opportunity to learn about STEM because of their environment. That is why I want to be an EngineerGirl Ambassador. I want to empower girls and give them the confidence that they are CAPABLE and they CAN do the impossible.
My Project
My project is a STEM club but would mostly emphasize science, engineering, and technology. The club would be held in central PA, Harrisburg area at the Bethesda missionary kids center. The children who come to this missionary are underprivileged kids who in most cases are not fortunate enough to be able to participate in out of school STEM-based activities like first lego league or first tech challenge. The club would be held throughout the school year. The club meeting would be held around once every two weeks for girls in the grades of second grade to fifth grade. At each meeting, I would create a lesson/presentation on a STEM concept or a specific career in the STEM field. After teaching them about the new concept, we would use the skills or new information acquired in a STEM-based activity.
One thing that I would have to do would be to meet up with the girls and find out what they would like to come out of this club. At the first meeting I would also ask the girls what interested them about STEM and then with this information I would plan out the lessons and activities. The club would allow any girls to join in second grade to fifth because based on my research and personal experience, young girls’ passion for STEM starts around second to fourth grade and slowly dies down from sixth to eighth grade. This may be due to schools not having the ability to facilitate and nurture a passion for STEM in young girls.
Before being able to start the club I would still have some other needs to attend to. One of the things that I will do first is meet up with the kids center regularly, in person or virtually, to see their facilities and plan out when and where the club and activities would occur. These meetings would occur before the start of the club so that I would be able to plan my main activities and schedule time out accordingly. I will also have to meet up with a few other women in STEM who would be able to provide representation for girls in all fields. The reason for this is so that the girls in the club have other strong women to have as role models because not all young girls have strong role models that are there all the time. My goal with this project is to make sure no girl feels alone with her journey through STEM and also to empower the next generation of powerful young female leaders in STEM.