Girl Scouts Encourages Girls to Explore STEM Opportunities
October 22, 2014
GREENVILLE, SC – Girl Scouts of South Carolina – Mountains to Midlands realizes that one important step in encouraging girls’ interests in STEM is to expose them to experts and mentors in STEM fields. This summer, six Upstate Girl Scouts attended iTEAMS summer camp hosted by the SC Governor’s School for Science & Mathematics. The girls were rising 7th & 8th graders who attended sessions in Greenville, Greenwood and Spartanburg.
There are two upcoming opportunities. The council is hosting STEM Activity Day on November 15, 2014 at Roper Mountain Science Center. This event is for 4th & 5th graders. It is presented by the Society of Women Engineers and the GE Women’s Network of the Greenville Area. Registration is available at www.gssc-mm.org.
Girl Scout Engineering Day at Clemson University will be held on February 21, 2015. Presented by WISE (Women in Science and Engineering), this will be the 16th year that the program has been offered to girls in middle school and high school. It is an outreach effort conducted annually during National Engineers Week in February.
States Kim Hutzell, President/CEO, Girl Scouts of South Carolina – Mountains to Midlands, “America has a huge opportunity for economic growth with girls’ interests in science, technology, engineering, and math. We all have a role to play in making girls feel supported and capable when it comes to involvement in STEM fields. Thanks to our wonderful partners, we are able to work together to bring extensive, high-quality STEM opportunities and mentors to girls.”
Over the next decade, 8.5 million jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) will be available. Girl Scouts recognizes that this workforce will be crucial to America’s global competitiveness while offering good-paying jobs. By ensuring women and girls receive the exposure, encouragement, and support they need to enter, and succeed in STEM fields, this country can benefit from the full range and diversity of its talent. However, women are vastly underrepresented in STEM jobs and among STEM degree holders, despite making up nearly half of the U.S. workforce. Women hold less than 25 percent of STEM jobs, yet, those with STEM jobs earn 33 percent more than comparable women in non-STEM jobs.
Girl Scouts has a long history of engaging girls in STEM activities and encouraging girls to pursue STEM interests both in and outside of the classroom. It has taken an aggressive approach to close the gender gap in this field buy conducting research and offering STEM activities to girls at every grade level from K5 – 12.
A study by the Girl Scout Research Institute documents that 74 percent of teen girls are interested in the field of STEM and STEM subjects. But a gender barrier presents itself when 57% of girls say that if they went into a STEM career, they’d have to work harder than a man just to be taken seriously.
Girl Scouting
For more than 102 years, Girl Scouting has helped girls develop positive values and become active, responsible leaders in their communities. With emphasis on personal growth and leadership development through service to others, Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. Girl Scouts of South Carolina-Mountains to Midlands serves approximately 11,500 girls, grades K5-12, and 4,700 adults in 22 counties of central and western South Carolina, including Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson, Cherokee, Chester, Edgefield, Fairfield, Greenville, Greenwood, Kershaw, Lancaster, Laurens, Lexington, McCormick, Newberry, Oconee, Pickens, Richland, Saluda, Spartanburg, Sumter, and Union.
