Southeastern Community College’s “Investigate Your Future,” an educational event for 8th grade girls will take place on Friday, May 13 on the West Burlington campus. Over 150 girls from school districts across Southeast Iowa will attend. “Investigate Your Future” will provide interactive, hands-on sessions that expose girls to a careers in science, technology, engineering and math. The girls will be able to choose the sessions of interest to them.
SCC Work-Based Learning Specialist Pat Bensmiller explains that the sessions will help girls better understand career options and the education they will need to prepare for the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers.
"This is part of a larger initiative to encourage students to follow careers in STEM subjects. With so many career choices available today, it can be a challenge to attract students. The US is experiencing a shortage of professionals in these vital careers.”
Bensmiller continues that females are considerably underrepresented in STEM other male-dominated careers. Events like this that specifically targets young girls can help reverse that trend.
“Research shows that students begin to identify possible careers they might want to pursue while they’re in middle school. We need to get to them now.”
With session titles like “Boom! Why Things Explode,” “DNA Who Done It,” “Robotics: It’s Not Just Science Fiction” feature the practical, fun sides of what are perceived as complicated technical careers. Many of the sessions are facilitated by female professionals.
Bensmiller points out, “girls need to be exposed to non-traditional careers by learning, doing, and creating so they can see what exciting opportunities there are for them.”
For more information about Investigate Your Future, contact Pat Bensmiller at (319) 208-5047 or pbensmiller@scciowa.edu.
For more news or to learn about Southeastern Community College, visit: https://www.scciowa.edu/rss/news/index.aspx