According to wbtv.com, a Johnston County all girls, high school robotics team is attempting to close the gender gap in the STEM and STEAM fields. Charlotte Motor Speedway held its annual STEAM Expo on Friday and hosted over 1,500 first through twelfth grade students from North and South Carolina. The attendees had the chance to take part in hands on demonstrations, get to meet race car drivers, and learn of career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.
A S.T.E.A.M. manager, Babette Huitt stated that, “We have such an array of jobs out here that we try to expose the kids to so they know what’s potentially down the road for them. Not all kids go to college and we talk to them about that too [plus] all of the other careers, like Ford Performance, which is a great example. They have schools where they’ll pay for them to come to learn how to be a mechanic at their shop,”
Since April they have been able to educate younger female students about different career opportunities in STEM through events such as the STEAM expo. One attendee stated that, “It’s been fantastic, it’s really helping me prepare for my future career field as an engineer. I feel like I’m getting a really big head start that a lot of other people don’t get the opportunity to have.” They also offer short hybrid technology courses to girls in fifth through eighth grade as a part of their program “Girls Teach Tech.” Students that take part in the G-Force program get assigned a mentor to help with business, marketing, and other aspects of STEM.
T’yanna Rouse combined her passion for aerospace and aviation with her career in public relations and uses it to help mentor the girls in G-Force, and gives her an opportunity to learn from them as well. Rouse stated that, “What I have the opportunity to do is teach the girls different ways to venture into the STEM workforce by using non-technical skills such as marketing, communications, and social media to still pour into that industry.”
According to the National Girls Collaborative project, K-12 male students had a 21% likelihood of taking engineering courses compared to only 8% of female students.
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