JPL Hosts Women in STE(A)M Event

 A collaboration between NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, William S. Hart Union High School District, and the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles gave way to the Women in STE(A)M: I Need My Space event on March 5 at West Ranch High School.  Hosted by women engineers and scientists from JPL, the event aimed to “introduce high-school girls to the role of women in advancing space exploration,” with specifics in Mars missions, robotics, astronomy and planetary protection.
Many girls feel that jobs in science, technology, engineering, arts and math fields are unattainable due to their perception of these jobs as “male jobs,” according to JPL.  To combat this, women in these fields have begun to reach out to young girls about pursuing the opportunities STE(A)M jobs provide.
“By sharing our own personal stories and achievements with them, we hope to reverse [the stigma],” said Rover and spacecraft designer Jackie Lara.  “I like to focus my talks not only on my achievements but also on my journey from a little girl to today.  I was once a girl just like them.”
This was the exact purpose of the I Need My Space event, and in just under three hours, tickets sold out, leading event organizers to add a second session later in the day.  The target audience was high school girls, and 1,100 attendees walked through the doors throughout the day.
The idea for this Santa Clarita event came to Project Coordinator Dennis Young, a father of two, when he realized, although he never perceived them differently, his son and daughter were being treated so by the world.
“I just kept hearing, ‘He’s a smart boy; she’s a pretty girl,’” Dennis said.  “I want to make sure she is getting positive reinforcement like my son.”
Dennis began to bring his job home, showing Mars rovers at his children’s school and at Cub Scout and Girl Scout meetings.  After realizing what an opportunity he had, Dennis made a decision.
“Since I work with these amazing people, and many women, why not bring one of these amazing women to a Girl Scout event and encourage these girls to think about a career in STEM?” Dennis recalled of his inspiration.  “It couldn’t be me; we really should have women telling these girls to be engineers and scientists.”
And the program began.  Although Dennis’ intentions were humble, the project immediately become more than he expected.
“I didn’t plan on doing this,” he said.  “I just wanted to do an event for the Girl Scouts, but the demand was so overwhelming.”
The high demand merited involvement from the Hart district, West Ranch High School and Girl Scouts of Los Angeles.
“West Ranch High School and the Hart District Career and College Readiness Department bent over backwards to make this a reality for the girls,” Dennis said.  “This is not an easy event for anybody, and they brought it to fruition.  They saw the value in this and how it would positively affect girls.”
The event began with biographies of the 11 female speakers, and then the girls broke out into different sessions with topics including: Mars, graphic design and extreme robotics.  Each session featured a few female scientists with cutting-edge technology.
The women speakers are all extremely passionate about bringing positive and successful role models to young girls to encourage branching out of traditional roles. “Through the years I realized that my passion was really space and the unknown universe beyond our planet.  The desire to explore, even farther than where an astronaut could go, brought me to JPL,” Lara said of the passion she wishes to share with young girls.
“We will read about these women in history and science books,” Dennis said.  “Some are even mentioned already.”
For more information about the JPL Women in STE(A)M event, please visit jpl.nasa.gov.