Girls in STEM:

At Severna Park High School, I participate in Project Lead the Way which is a four-year pre-engineering program. Starting out freshman year in Principles of Engineering, the class consisted of about 50% girls. Now that I am in my third year of the program, the number of girls has dropped dramatically, and I am only one of three girls in my class.

The lack of women in STEM has been studied extensively. Girl Scouts did a study about women in STEM and found the following:

• 74% of teen girls are interested in STEM.
• 81% of STEM girls are interested in pursuing STEM careers but only 13% say it’s their first choice.
• Research shows that girls start losing interest in math and science in middle school.
• On average only 20% of women intend to major in STEM fields compared to 50% of men.
• Girls interested in STEM are significantly better students and are more academically engaged.
• STEM girls have significantly higher confidence in their academic abilities and aspirations for themselves.

For more information about this study, click here: Generation STEM