4 Northport HS Students Partake In 'Women In Technology' Program

NORTHPORT, NY — Four Northport High School students participated in Women in Technology, a program run by BAE Systems Electronic Systems sector, the Northport-East Northport School District announced.

Dora Fields, Karen Stehlik, Ashley Jimenez and Lily Eagen each participated in the 12-week program that exposed them to various facets of engineering including software, mechanical, electrical, and systems engineering. Participants also had opportunities to work on presentation skills and network with BAE Systems engineers.

BAE Systems describes Women In Technology as giving female high school students with an aptitude in math and science "a practical, hands-on opportunity to explore careers in various technical disciplines." Women who participate and go on to major in engineering are also encouraged to apply for summer internships through BAE Systems.

Each of the young women who attended the program spoke about not only the program itself, but the camaraderie amongst participants.

"I just liked the community of it," Fields said in a news release. "All of the people came together to make us feel really supported and it was a great experience."

Jimenez agreed.

"I loved being in the program because it was a bunch of girls, my age, who were also interested in the same areas of study, which was cool."

Karen Stehlik spoke about the program’s influence on her future plans, saying she learned about some areas of engineering that she preferred over others.

"I really liked the mechanical part, but I learned that electrical wasn’t for me, but I was able to learn that early on," she said. "So I feel like it opened us up to learning about a lot of different aspects."

Eagen also emphasized the value of learning about different career paths from the experience.

"I want to go into architecture and exploring different parts of engineering is something that’s interesting to me. It was really like a deep dive into what these positions actually do for work and what we like about them and what we don’t like, so it helps us make career decisions."

The participants were each presented with certificates at a graduation ceremony for the program this month.