Girls in STEM
Encourage your girls and gender-expansive youth to pursue STEM careers! Bring the Girls Run STEM program to your site.
STEM professionals solve some of the world's most pressing problems using ingenuity, teamwork, expertise, and creativity. These fields need everyone!
However, as of 2019, only 34% of STEM professionals were women. Research shows that girls' self-efficacy in STEM begins to decline in middle school, even when they are capable in math and science. Gender-expansive youth face systemic barriers to participation in STEM. The Ann Drake Girls in STEM Initiative aims to remove barriers in STEM so that girls and gender-expansive youth can use their unique gifts to pursue whatever career they choose.
Griffin MSI can bring a Girls Run STEM program event to your site, providing a welcoming and collaborative science engagement that can provide the spark for our future STEM professionals.
What You Provide
- 100-500 girls and gender-expansive youth and their boundless creativity
- 1 staff member for every 20 students
- A large room like a gym, a cafeteria, or a multipurpose room
- A mic and sound system
- A projector
- Tables for the program activity
What We Bring
- A female-identifying STEM ambassador to share their STEM story
- All the simple materials needed for students to build prototypes of their inventions
- A real-world challenge in a relevant STEM field of your choice. Past examples include:
- Engineering and Medicine: Asthma and Allergies: Invent an allergen detector to let people know allergens are in the air near them.
- Engineering and Water Quality: Invent a device to prevent the spread of microplastics.
- Engineering and Urban Planning: Design a plan to protect your home or school from flooding.
If there is a specific STEM field you’d like to request, please let us know. We can attempt to secure a professional from that field.
Grades K-12 can be accommodated. The program runs between 90 minutes and 3 hours; exact timing determined by site in consultation with Girls Run STEM staff. Organizations must serve at least 51% low-income youth to qualify. Girls Run STEM is offered free of charge.
Contact Us
Please email Dulce Enriquez or call (773) 753-1766 to learn more about this program.