Amador Valley Student Empowers Tri-Valley Girls In STEM

Press release from Jacqueline Lee:

Feb. 25, 2021

My name is Jacqueline Lee. I am a girl scout ambassador and a junior at Amador Valley High School. I am currently working towards the end of my gold award project, which is the highest award that a girl scout can earn.

I have been a Girl Scout since I was five, starting from the Daisy level. I am in Troop #5481 from the San Marino Service unit under the Greater Los Angeles Council. Even after moving from Southern CA to Northern CA, I am still in the same troop. The gold award is an individual leadership project that girl scout seniors and ambassadors can complete. Some of the requirements include that I must contribute at least 80 hours of work, it must address an issue in a community, and make a long lasting impact.

According to data from Junior Achievement in 2016, the breakdown of STEM graduates in 2016 was 37% female and 63% male. Girls may develop an interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics when they are young, but due to a lack of exposure to the careers from STEM professionals and career-readiness programs, they begin to lose interest in high school. I wanted to take action to solve this issue by starting locally from my school district, Tri-Valley. The high schools in Tri Valley include Amador Valley, Dublin, Granada, Foothill and Livermore. I partnered up with the Tri Valley School district Get Set (Girls Exploring Technology, Science, and Engineering Together) program to work on my gold award project. The program provides opportunities for high school girls to attend STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) related field trips and events to encourage girls to choose a career in STEM. It also provides exposure to many different careers in the field and allows the students to see what each professional does. Some examples of past events include a dinner with a scientist, a field trip to the Clorox company, and many more. After attending a few GetSet events for the past 2 years, I was able to discover different science careers. For my project, I wanted to do the same for the students in my community.

Because I am a teen volunteer at Oakland Zoo in the Teen Wild Guide program, I have made many connections with the people who work there. I wanted to introduce the different types of jobs related to working with animals. My initial plan before covid was to bring the students on a field trip to Oakland Zoo, but unfortunately I had to come up with a new plan that was virtual. I was able to bring together a group of 7 women in animal science to speak at a panelist event. The speakers included a veterinarian, veterinary technician, ocean scientist, animal caretaker, zoo manager, and zoo keeper, with five of them being from Oakland Zoo.

On December 9th, 2020, I hosted the virtual event through WebEx. As the host of the panel, I asked the panelists questions about their jobs and the animal career field. The topics discussed included what they enjoyed most about their job, advice to high school students interested in STEM, and some of the hardships about the career. Ultimately, the purpose of this event was to provide exposure of science careers to female high school students.

The project is sustainable and measurable because the attendees answered a survey about their new outlook on animal science careers, and if they wish to pursue one in the future. Most of the attendees gained more knowledge about the careers presented and became more interested in animal science. The hour long event was recorded, and is posted on my website for anyone interested to watch. I hope that I have influenced more girls to be interested in STEM careers, along with providing a new perspective and inspiration on what to major in in college.

"Young girls who are interested in STEM careers in highschool may become discouraged or unsure about choosing that major in college due to the gender gap between males and females. I think that it is important to encourage girls to continue their love for STEM by introducing them to role models and allowing the exploration of a variety of science related careers," she said. "The process working on my gold award project gave me an opportunity to connect with my community. Later this year, it will be my turn to apply for colleges. Through my own project, I have discovered my strong interest in majoring in science. According to the surveys I sent to students who attended my event, more than 50% also felt that they now have gained an interest in STEM careers. I hope that more girls will get an opportunity to discover the possibilities of their future job."

This press release was produced by Jacqueline Lee . The views expressed here are the author's own.