On March 8th, Saint Mary’s College will host the annual STEM conference for middle school girls in the Bay Area interested in the field. The conference lasts for a full day and consists of multiple different workshops, three of which the girls will choose to explore.
“It starts off with a speaker in the morning and then they have 3 different workshops they go to throughout the day, based on what they signed up for in advance. They are given lunch and snacks and at the end of the day there is a closing ceremony and donation prizes are given.” said junior Isabelle Culinco, a 3-year participant in the conference, this year as a High School Ambassador. The keynote speaker each year usually shares her “work and journey as a woman in STEM fields,” said junior Colbie Freese, a lead ambassador for the conference.
The conference is organized by the AAUW-OML (American Association of University Women, the Lamorinda branch), the high school ambassador team, and high school monitors. The AAUW-OML advocates for gender equity by providing educational opportunities, scholarships, and research.
Culinco said, “AAUW runs a camp, Tech Trek, for free during the summer; but this camp is only for girls that are nominated and they can only take a few from each area. This conference was created to open up this sort of opportunity to other girls as well, not just the top few that were nominated.”
Freese is looking forward to her 4th STEM conference and first participated in 8th grade. She said “[I] fell in love with a workshop on criminology, where female FBI agents taught my group of girls how to analyze fake blood splatter patterns. From there, I knew I wanted to get involved so I volunteered as a high school monitor the following year and then as an Ambassador.”
The ambassadors contribute to the conference’s planning process by meeting monthly in further advance and then transitioning to meeting multiple times each month as the event approaches. The lead ambassadors are in charge of directing the team of high school ambassadors and recruiting high school monitors.
Junior Arianna Bustamante participated in the conference as an 8th grader and has been a junior monitor for the last two years. She is looking forward to participating again on March 8th. Some workshops she remembers include dissecting a brain, constructing bridges, and learning about environmental issues. She feels “the STEM conference is an incredibly valuable way to introduce girls to the STEM field, allowing them to pursue their interests and explore STEM careers, all while hearing from professionals and other women who have already embarked on that path before.”
The exciting day of STEM activities is a way for young girls to receive support in the realm of their ambitions, especially when interested in entering a historically male-dominated field. Bustamante wants the girls attending and anyone like them to know “there are so many young women on this same path and this conference demonstrates that. And we can act as a support system for one another, bolstering more capable young women onto paths so they can achieve their goals.”
Culinco hopes to help instill in young girls this message: “they should keep an open mind about STEM careers, even if it isn't something they are actively interested in. Interests and passions develop over time, so it's important to weigh them equally, and not be scared of entering STEM classes or fields because of the demographics, or if your friends aren't doing it.”
Overall, the STEM conference is usually a big hit, inspiring those involved. Freese said “from beekeeping to brain science, from architectural engineering to math puzzles, there are so many exciting opportunities to explore STEM at the conference and I'm thrilled to help put it on every year.” Bustamante added “every year, I've loved interacting with like minded, driven girls and seeing that passion of others for learning.”
