EASTON, Pa. — More than a dozen girls from across the Lehigh Valley will be recognized Thursday night for their interest in science, technology, engineering, art and math.
- 17 girls from the Lehigh Valley will be recognized Thursday for their interest in STEAM subjects
- The Girls Recognition Night will be held at Nurture Nature Center
- Organizers say recognizing the girls' interests now can help encourage them to continue in science, technology, engineering, art and math
“In addition to the confidence boost provided by recognition and celebration of achievements, we want to spark some forward-looking possibilities,” said Susan McNamara and Toni Hoffman, co-chairs of the event.
“By providing this opportunity for the girls to meet young women panelists engaged with a variety of STEAM-related issues and career options and to talk with them about their experiences — eureka moments, missteps, lessons learned — we hope the girls will leave with a ‘maybe … that could be me' response and memory.”
Hosted by the city’s branch of the American Association of University Women, the annual Girls Recognition Night is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Nurture Nature Center, 518 Northampton St.
Seventeen seventh-grade girls, selected by their teachers for their enthusiasm and talent in STEAM subjects, from Easton, Wilson, Nazareth and Bangor area middle schools will be recognized, receiving a certificate and a small gift.
Organizers kept the names of the students slated to be recognized privately pending permission from parents.
"In addition to the confidence boost provided by recognition and celebration of achievements, we want to spark some forward-looking possibilities."Susan McNamara and Toni Hoffman, co-chairs of Girls Recognition Night
The event is intended “to celebrate and encourage middle school girls to continue their studies in these fields which can lead to careers in STEAM,” according to a news release.
“AAUW research shows that teachers, advisors, role models and parents can favorably affect the attitudes of young women and persuade them that they are every bit as qualified as young men to pursue these careers,” organizers said in the release.
“Being praised for their interest and performance and being shown that there are indeed many female achievers in technical and non-traditional fields can make a great difference to a young woman in deciding which courses to take in high school and college.”
Women are still vastly underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering and math workforce.
In 2019, women made up 27%, but men still dominated the field, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Census Bureau. That same year, men made up 52% of all workers across the country, but nearly three-fourths of all STEM workers.
Lorena Tribe, a professor of chemistry at Penn State Berks, is scheduled to deliver a keynote at the event. Tribe researches theoretical chemistry and surface chemistry.
There will be four panelists, who are slated to speak about their experiences and work in the worlds of STEAM.
Panelists include Lauren Forster, environmental education specialist supervisor with the Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks at Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center; Rachel Hurley, a senior integrative engineering major at Lafayette College; Madeline Squarcia, the coordinator of local foods and environmental initiatives at Nurture Nature Center; and Natasha Woods, an assistant professor of biology at Moravian University where she teaches environmental science and botany.
For more information, visit the AAUW website.
