by Katelyn Mackin

 

Every day, more women are becoming interested in science and engineering. At Frontier Regional High School, we provide a field trip for girls who would like to become informed about the careers of science and engineering. Ms. Chapley, the main organizer of this field trip, tells us this is the third time she has made this trip available to us. The previous trips have turned out to be successful and she hopes this one will be as well. The acronym STEM stands for the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Women are becoming more engaged in STEM, despite the stigma around the field being ‘for men’. Ms. Chapley’s intentions are to expose young women to this type of work environment, and surround them with other women in the fields so they can feel more comfortable with the possibility of entertaining such a career and witness the opportunities available to them. By shifting girls away from outside influences that might deter them from these professions, her hope is that they won’t feel pressured, and will become comfortable with STEM careers. STEM fields are underpopulated by females, which limits the creativity opportunities many could have access to. An increase in female STEM representatives will expand personal and professional development, and will provide more versatile views within those career options. According to Ms. Chapley, during this field trip, “students will be able to do hands-on activities/research on 4 or 5 different types of engineering.” They will have the chance to interact with the conference attendees, and ask them questions about why/how they were able to get to this point in their careers. This will help to push them to to create their own goals in such fields. They will learn how to achieve these goals, and become aware of more camps/activities that are available outside of school. Ms. Chapley feels that it is extremely important to introduce young women to these types of choices.