Superheroes STEAM ahead   3 Mar 2015

EMPOWERING AUCKLAND GIRLS TO BECOME SUPERHEROES THROUGH SCIENCE, ENGINEERING & TECH FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (MARCH 3, 2015)

Superheroes STEAM ahead , a career event for girls and mums, took place at the University of Auckland, Faculty of Engineering, Neon Foyer in the evening of February 27th.

Last Friday, dozens of women who work in technology and science in New Zealand companies and organizations have volunteered their time to an important cause: Getting girls interested in science, engineering and technology.

The event was largely organized by Dr. Alyona Medelyan, founder of a tech startup Entopix, and who got inspired to do this after hearing the Minister of Women’s Affair say that most popular career choices for New Zealand school girls are an airhostess and a hairdresser.

"I feel deeply passionate about my work in the technology industry and would love to see more women choose professions where they can make a significant impact on the world.” she said.

Together with The Mind Lab’s Frances Valentine and Futureintech’s Gay Watson, they came up with an idea of “STEAM ahead”: an event that educates both girls, and their mothers, about career opportunities they may not be aware about. STEAM is a variation on the commonly used acronym STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths), which adds an “A” as in “Arts” in between these fields. Girls excel at many fields that fall into the Arts category, and if they combine these skills with Science, Technology or Engineering, this will open up more career choices for them.

Medelyan started a crowdfunding campaign with PledgeMe and managed to collect $3000 from private people, companies and organizations around New Zealand. With these funds, she organized a free event, which attracted 350 girls and mums from Auckland schools.

The event featured two inspirational talks from the true female superheroes: the Nanogirl aka Dr. Michelle Dickinson and Jewella aka Dr. Jenine Beekhuyzen, founder of the TechGirlsMovement. They have shown examples of their everyday work, such as building machines for breaking things, photos from places around the world their work has taken them to, and also explained how to become a superhero. The girls were animated and engaged, especially after they got to do some science experiments, including imitating dragon breath.

After the talks, girls got to speak to women from companies like Vend, Orion Health, Westpac, LIC and Fronde. Mums took home brochures from organizations like Futureintech, Skills and Summer of Tech that informed them about the next steps.

The Neon Foyer was full of people buzzing with excitement and many have asked when the next event is taking place.

Add a comment