By Meg Hodson
This is a sponsored post on behalf of Green Works and Collectively. All opinions and writing are 100% my own.
Raising a girl is no small task. Heck, raising ANY child is darn right a small miracle. I don't know if it's because I am one strong willed girl who was brought up believing I could accomplish anything. But I feel a huge responsibility to make sure my daughter has every opportunity she could ever desire.
I do feel like girls take some extra attention when it comes to opportunities. My daughter plays at the club soccer level. She got a little burned out this past year. Tryouts came up this past Spring and she was considering not trying out. I decided to take her out to lunch and have a nice heart to heart.
While she is only 11, I couldn't help but look into the future and think about high school and potential college scholarships she could be privy to with her level of soccer. I did eventually convince her to continue. She made the team and the season is off to a good start in late summer.
I was part of an eye-opening Twitter party a few weeks ago hosted by Green Works in partnership with AAUW. The hot topic: STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). When it comes to science, men still significantly outnumber the women. Although this might be a far cry from soccer, the emphasis on girls reaching their full potential is definitely related.
Here are some of the highlights of what I learned during the party.
- Only 1 in every 1000 girls will become a scientist
- Toys can promote STEM because girls learn fun through hands-on experience, and critical thinking
- Science National Honor Society is a great high school organization that pushes kids to be involved and talk to scientists
- It's an extremely enriching career, personally and intellectually, you will never be bored!
- AAUW is one of the largest funding sources for girls in graduate school
- Allow for creativity when building. It encourages thinking, design, problem solving
- Great discoveries take inquisitive people, hard work, and luck.
- It’s important to set role models for next gen girls. Girls will gain more confidence
- Encourage girls to be curious, try things that might not work, test assumptions, and learn from their mistakes
- It's important for girls to identify with scientists. Females in STEM help them to see themselves in the future.
- It isn't enough to just be a female scientist, you must actively engage and encourage girls
- Only 14 percent of girl students drew a female scientist when prompted in this video: http://bit.ly/1Ma4YTw
Thanks to Green Works, we are encouraged to let girls know that they do have the opportunity to become a scientist. Let them know where math can take them.
