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Sarasota school encourages girls to choose STEM careers

Kids are told they can do anything they set their minds to. Yet not many girls choose STEM careers in science, technology, engineering and math.
School officials hope science experiments like this can spur interest in STEM.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Kids are told they can do anything they set their minds to. Yet not many girls choose STEM careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

According to the Department of Commerce, women filled 47 percent of all U.S. jobs in 2015 but held only 24 percent of STEM jobs.

One Bay area school is trying to shift the tide and make girls see they too can be engineers.

As part of Global Engineering Week, St. Martha Catholic School exposed students to the career possibilities. Eighth graders filed into the gym for a demonstration from Sub Zero ice cream makers on how liquid nitrogen works.

A representative from Sub Zero asked the students to raise their hands if they are interested in science.

Among the eighth-grade students who raised their hands were Patricia Gomez, Maria Doch and Bernadette Nwokeji. The three 13-year-old girls are all interested in science-based careers.

“I want to be a genetic engineer,” said Patricia Gomez.

“I want to be a software developer,” added Maria Dach.

“I hope to be an anesthesiologist,” said Bernadette Nwokeji.

These girls are on board the science train, but what about the other students?

“Watch what happens as this liquid nitrogen boils back into a gas,” a representative from Sub Zero tells the kids.

He pours the liquid nitrogen into a plastic water bottle. He then caps it with a balloon. The students watch as the balloon expands and pops as the temperature of the gas rises.

Students spoke with engineers including a Disney Imagineer.

“Engineering for me is about the fun of solving problems,” Bob Vignec told the kids. Vignec spent 4 years creating Disney’s soon-to-open Slinky Dog Dash rollercoaster for Toy Story Land.

He told the kids his career started at their age.

"You have to pay attention in school, science and math lean the basics.”

But girls interested in STEM careers often must overcome the gender stereotypes and criticism too.

“It's happened to me before. Thankfully my parents, friends and school really supportive,” said Maria.

The stereotype that boys are better at STEM jobs hold some girls back from even trying.

The proof is in the numbers. According to the National Girls Collaborative Project, 25 percent of women with bachelor’s degrees are in computer and mathematical sciences, and women with engineering degrees are lower at 15 percent.

It’s worst for minority women: fewer than one in 10 are working as scientists or engineers.

Bernadette said, “Women and men can both do the same jobs.”

Patricia said science allows one to make a difference. “There are so many different ways to help people improve the world and society.”

Maria said, “Being a girl, it’s an extra opportunity to show people that I can be the same or better than any man at any job.”

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