The gathering of 3,000 young women and girls at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy was “the closest thing to a Taylor Swift concert” Utah has seen in recent years, Gov. Spencer Cox said of the crowd. told.
Indeed, like a concert, confetti and glitter covered the floor and the faces of wide-eyed attendees, most of them high school girls from Utah. But they're not there to dance and sing.
On Thursday, March 14, Pi Day, they gathered there to celebrate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and explore the possibilities that STEM can offer.
Cox said the 10th annual SheTech Explorer Day was “the largest gathering of women in technology in state history.”
Cydni Tetreault, president of the Utah Women's Technology Council, said the event's growth over its 10-year history still prevents some women and girls from pursuing STEM degrees and careers. “It's evidence that disproves some of the widespread stereotypes,” he said, adding, “Girls are somehow not that good.” in science and mathematics. They inherently aren't that interested in it. Such a career is neither useful nor fun.
STEM is “not one-size-fits-all. …We’re solving the world’s problems.”
And Tetro said she wants the girls to have fun with it and see what they can do. That is the mission of SheTech Explorer Day.
As 18-year-old Salma Al Shuqairat told Cox during a lunchtime Q&A, even in a state that frequently boasts about STEM education, women and girls still face challenges in pursuing STEM careers. One of the “barriers'' that they face is the stereotype of the aging population. Technology-friendly business environment.
“What is the country doing to help us succeed in this field?” Al-Shukairat asked the governor.
(Trent Nelson | Salt Lake Tribune) Claire Dean, Ellie Little, Leah Perez and Kate Topham attend SheTech Explorer Day in Sandy on Thursday, March 14, 2024.
“You’ll have to see it for that to be the case.”
Al Shuqairat's older brother was considered a “smart guy” at school, the high school senior told The Salt Lake Tribune. She saw him succeed in science and math, saw his interest in technology, and thought she would never share his passion or talent. Ta.
“I always felt like, 'Oh, I can't do it.' Even if I wanted to, I couldn't do it,” she said.
Since finding SheTech, she said her perspective has changed. Rather than aligning her own interests with her perceived abilities, she is trying to build her skills around what ignites her passion, which is currently exercise science. she said.
“It’s not about your ability,” she said. “It's about what you want to do. Because you can do whatever you want.”
Still, her questions to Cox focused on the real challenges girls and women still face in male-dominated STEM industries.
Female participation in Utah's STEM industries was up to 21% in 2021, according to labor data analyzed by the Utah Women and Leadership Project. This is an increase of 16.7% compared to 2016, but is still lower than the national rate of 27%.
Utah also has one of the highest gender pay gaps in the nation for full-time workers across industries, according to census data compiled by software company QRFY. The median STEM salary for women in Utah is about 74% of the median salary for men, according to 2019 data from the Pew Research Center.
(Trent Nelson | Salt Lake Tribune) People pose for 3D selfies at SheTech Explorer Day in Sandy, Thursday, March 14, 2024.
There's also the issue of awareness, said Alison Sturgeon, an electrician at Hill Air Force Base. Women make up 14% of science and technology workers at the base.
“Girls need to see that happen,” Ms Sturgeon said. “We all know what teachers do, what dentists do, what lawyers do, right? But what do computer scientists and engineers do? Too many people don’t know.”
It's even more troubling when the people girls see in the field don't look like them.
“I think it's a little scary for girls our age to think, 'Oh, am I actually going to go into tech because… there are so many men and women don't think they can get a job?'” '' said Claire Dean, 17, a senior at Mountain View High School in Orem.
Dean added: “It's scary because we're smarter.”
Lindsay Henderson said she was one of the only girls in her college math class and remembers being too scared to speak up or participate.
Now, as a secondary math specialist for the State Board of Education, she said she works to make sure Utah girls don't feel left out in math and science classrooms.
Research shows that by the time most children reach middle school, they have already decided whether they are good or bad at math and science. It has also been shown that girls are more likely to lose interest, even though they generally perform as well as boys. Conduct standardized tests. Teachers can also play a role in that awareness, Henderson said.
However, regardless of gender, students in classrooms that create space for discussion and equal participation do better.
“What’s good for girls in STEM is good for everyone,” Henderson said.
it's for fun
SheTech Explorer Day won't solve the gender pay gap, but it can help solve the perception problem.
The dean and three fellow SheTech student committee members (Ellie Little, 17, Leah Perez, 16, and Kate Topham, 16) all agree that Explorer Day is the day they look forward to the most. That's what he said. The other girls and the mostly female mentors they interacted with throughout the day exuded passion, and they all agreed they loved the school.
At TechZone, 150 companies will set up booths and provide examples of a variety of STEM applications, including 3D printers, cosmetics, origami satellites, and more. At one booth, girls were able to manufacture their own diamonds. At each booth, representatives and instructors were enthusiastically teaching the girls their crafts.
(Trent Nelson | Salt Lake Tribune) People pose for 3D selfies at SheTech Explorer Day in Sandy, Thursday, March 14, 2024.
“I love the people you talk to because they’re all happy to talk about it,” Little said. “When someone shows an interest in me, I just light up and get so happy that I start talking and can't stop. I love it.''
“It's almost like there's a sparkle in their eyes,” Dean added.
Beyond the hands-on lessons and demonstrations, the SheTech girls said their biggest takeaway was that STEM is fun. For girls like Topham and Perez, that revelation instilled a new and unwavering passion for science and technology.
Topham wanted to study international relations. Now she wants to study chemical engineering and use her skills abroad. Ms. Perez wanted to be a teacher, and while she may still become one, she is “blind in her eyes,” she said. [herself] They do anything that isn't based in science or math. ”
For Manya Nair, SheTech turned a lifelong skill into a passion. Nair, 21, is in her senior year at the University of Utah, studying computer science. This is exactly what she wanted to learn as an 11-year-old budding programmer. According to Nile, her father taught her the early skills she needed to build her hobby. SheTech gave her her “passion”.
“I didn’t really understand the ‘why’ until I was in high school,” Nair said. “SheTech set me on that path.”
(Trent Nelson | Salt Lake Tribune) People attempt a structural engineering exam conducted by Salt Lake Community College during SheTech Explorer Day in Sandy, Thursday, March 14, 2024.
Niall said he wants to work in healthcare technology to help people without seeing blood.
“If a computer can do it, I can program it,” she said.
Nia is also a dancer, a talent she learned from her mother, and said computer science, like dance, is a valuable balance between creativity and structure, delicacy and power. One wrong move can ruin your dance. If one punctuation mark is missing, the whole code can break.
To achieve this balance, the tech workforce needs a balance of perspectives from all genders. Nile said that balance doesn't yet exist in her field.
“We need both male and female perspectives to solve problems. But what's happening in the industry right now is that the male perspective is in the majority,” Nile said. “So these issues are not resolved.”
Tetro said SheTech may have to find a new venue next year to accommodate the growing number of female students interested in STEM. That's good. Even if they don't earn a STEM degree, Utah's high school girls will leave high school with a new perspective on their abilities and have a great time, Tetro said.
“It's just fun,” Tetro said. “I want girls to go home and say, “It was fun.''
Shannon Sollitto is Report for America Business Accountability and Sustainability Officer of the Salt Lake Tribune. Your gift, matched by an RFA grant, will help her keep writing stories like this one. Click to consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today. here.
