November 8th was National STEM day, which is dedicated to majors and professionals in the various STEM industries. This day is especially important for motivating students and children to consider this path in their future. While it is important for all children and young adults to be inspired to pursue a future in STEM, women are still very underrepresented. Being a woman in chemical engineering, I will discuss the ways I was motivated and continued to study engineering.
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Childhood is the time where individuals grow and learn the most with all things, which is why getting familiar at a young age is very effective. Growing up as the oldest child, I got to play both “boy” and “girl” games and activities. In fact, they weren’t “boy things” or “girl things” they were just different things to me. My dad is a civil engineer, and he would always take me to his work sites. I would dig around in the dirt, play with tools, and he would let me (safely) sit on the machines. Don’t get me wrong, I was also obsessed with my Barbies, but growing up doing both was definitely beneficial. If I wanted to play toy trucks in the mud, I got to. American Girl dolls? Great. There were no labels or limits on activities. I’m also a strong believer in the fact that you need to see it all in order to figure out what you like best, and the same goes for young girls. Laying out all the options and not limiting to “girl things” increases the chances of getting involved in STEM.
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People like familiarity. We like to feel represented and see people who resemble us. I never felt like anyone resembled me in engineering. There are still very few people I feel like I relate to and share my lifestyle with. But I don’t think I would have been here to begin with if it weren’t for a girl I met in high school. She was about 5 years older than me and studying chemical engineering. She grew up doing ski team like I did, and at my same resort. We had a lot of similarities. She was cute and girly but was down to do the hard and dirty work (resemblance?). She showed me that you can do both, sacrificing one for the other is not a requirement for being smart. If she could do it, maybe I could too. Even though there are still few women in engineering, a few can inspire many more to follow. As engineering becomes more diverse, kids and students will feel motivated by those who resemble them too.
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Choosing to major in STEM is one thing, but keeping motivation until the end gets difficult. I always say if I was any other year than a senior right now, I would drop engineering because of how terrible online learning has been. That’s not true, I wouldn’t. Every other year was hard too, this is just a different type of hard. Chemical engineering has been a group effort for me and all my classmates. Constantly having people around to help and explain to each other, even if it’s just through an app right now. Having a group keeps you motivated. There are also many organizations dedicated to bringing STEM majors together. I am part of Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), but there are many more such as National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Association for Women in Computing, American Chemical Society (ACS), and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) just to name a few. This goes back to my earlier point of surrounding yourself with people who share your same interests or background. My ladies in engineering motivate me every day. STEM is a group effort.
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National STEM day shines a light on the importance of inspiring, whether that’s children, students, or professionals in the workplace. It is also important to keep educating about STEM, not just on this day, but every day. I would really like to see more women represented, as well as people of all other backgrounds. It’s always possible, but we can make it a better chance.