A group of enthusiastic girls from grades five to seven filled the auditorium with excitement and curiosity as they attended the STEM Girls Drive event at Seven Stones Community School in February.
The event aimed at inspiring young girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the event featured role models in STEM who shared their journeys, challenges and hopes for the future.
STEM for years has been a male-dominated industry, with women facing barriers. However, with events like this inspiring girls from a young age, it is making way for a more inclusive and diverse future.
“It’s been a long-standing dream of mine to increase the involvement of girls in STEM,” said Lois Arokoyo, a design project manager in the Ministry of Highway and the vice president of the United Nations Association in Canada (Regina chapter), hosted and shared her reason for creating this event.
“Growing up I rarely saw female as engineers or if I saw women they would most likely be in less leadership positions,” Arokoyo said.
Arokoyo shared her story of underrepresentation in the field. “When I was in school, I rarely saw female professors in STEM roles, there were fewer professors, like my physics professor, who was a female and that was my favorite class,” she said.
An inspiring speaker, Happiness Okeke, a computer science major at the University of Regina, and a future data analyst, spoke about how the concept of AI and how a robot works.
“I made them understand the concept of AI like Alexa and ChatGPT, we also had exercises and practice activities like building bridges and making rocks,” she said.
These activities were not only for fun but to show the young girls that STEM is about creativity and making a real-world impact.
Okeke explained how there is a need for more women in the field to break the barriers created in society.
“The biggest barrier would be not having enough mentors and learning resources. I wish there were more females and opportunities for us in STEM, it would break the bridge or stereotype in STEM.”
Women are historically underrepresented in technology and science fields.
“The underrepresentation in the field is a lot… according to Randstad, using the Canadian population as a reference, only 23.7% of the STEM workforce in Canada are women, and probably 10% of the 23.7% are probably women of colour,” said Arokoyo.
Women like Arokoyo and Okeke are paving the way for future generations by breaking barriers and making STEM possible for everyone.
Their stories prove that with determination and support, young girls can aspire to become engineers, mathematicians, scientists, and programmers.
The girls in attendance were visibly inspired, their faces lighting up with curiosity and excitement as they learned about the possibilities of a future in STEM. For Arokoyo, moments like these are precisely why these events matters.
“Children learn by what they see,” she said. “This event is for girls to open their mind to explore opportunities that STEM provides.”
