PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Dozens of students in Pinellas County got a chance on Tuesday to hear firsthand what it’s like to be a woman in STEM.
“I’ve always been interested in STEM,” said Seminole High School senior Vanessa French.
“I’ve really loved STEM from a young age,” said Seminole High senior Lauren Basara.
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math.
On Tuesday, during a Women in STEM breakfast, a group of female students from Seminole Middle and Seminole High Schools got to listen and learn.
“Especially wanting to go into environmental engineering, I’ve learned there’s an environmental engineer here, and she’s taught me about how she got into that job, kind of the ways to network, and what she does,” said senior Erin Dzierba.
Women in STEM professionals shared their educational and career experiences.
It was eye-opening for many students, like French, Basara, and Dzierba, who are all seniors and part of a Women in STEM club.
“Just the skills that they developed and helped pass onto us and how maybe you might be able to go in there and network,” said Basara.
“It really is anything from environmental engineering to anywhere from like being a pharmacist and all these different ideas, and I just learned about empowerment,” said French.
There’s also a gender gap that needs bridging.
Pinellas County Schools pointed out that while there are more than three times as many Women in STEM careers now compared to more than 50 years ago, men still dominate the field.
“I’ve learned that many women here who work in STEM were told that it’s a men-dominated field, and they couldn’t do it, but they just pushed through their college years or high school years and made it through to the STEM program,” said Brianna DeCarolis, an eighth-grade student at Seminole Middle School.
