This past week we had the pleasure of having Katie Hiller visit us to tell us all about Girls in STEM, which is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering & Math. Katie is a high school teacher in Devon, Alberta who is deeply passionate of the STEM program for girls, was here to promote Black Gold's Girls in STEM Day event being held March 13th, 2023 at the Westhaven School in Leduc featuring the keynote speaker Natalie Panek, who happens to be a Rocket Scientist! The above term Black Gold refers to the Black Gold School Division which consists of schools in Leduc, Devon, Beaumont, Calmar, New Sarepta, Thorsby & Warburg, Alberta. A total of 124 girls from around the school division in Grades 7 thru 12, have been chosen by their teachers to attend this special day, full of workshops, displays and other speakers. Please check out the links below!
According to Katie, girls and women in general are underrepresented in the fields of STEM, making up less than 25% of the workforce in computing and less than 15% in the engineering fields, whereas women are overrepresented in the health care field by 70%. Studies show that society sees the math & science fields as male domains. Events such as this are designed to promote and encourage studies in the science, technology, engineering and math fields to young female students as viable career choices.
Click on the following links to find out more about the awesome Black Gold's Girls in STEM Day here:
Click on this link to take you to the YouTube on the last STEM day event which was held in 2021:
Thank you Katie for your awesome presentation, we hope the event will be a huge success this year and into the future! With impassioned teachers such as yourself, these events are sure to be a success!