By CHRISTINA LIEFFRING
Columbus Telegram, Neb.
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Although women have gained significant ground in some fields, such as medicine, biology and chemistry, there are still areas dominated by male workers. With that in mind, there are multiple national and local efforts underway to get more female students to consider STEM careers, those related to science, technology, engineering and math.
Columbus Telegram, Neb.
Lakeview High School freshman Emily Stevenson was probably nervous.
In her left hand, resting on the counter, she held the silver side of a wristband that detects any changes in perspiration while junior Marina Jimenez asked her questions.
“Do you always do your homework to the best of your ability?” Jimenez asked. “Have you ever cheated on a test or to improve your grades?”
Stevenson was the eighth person Jimenez questioned using the polygraph she made. When examining the data afterward, Jimenez said she can see clear increases in perspiration when someone is lying.
Science has always been easy for Jimenez, whether it’s biology, chemistry, physics, or forensics.
“I enjoy that it’s facts,” she said. “Reading and writing is more like your opinion. I’m more of a factual person.”
Currently, there are national and local efforts to get more students like Jimenez to consider STEM careers, those related to science, technology, engineering and math.
Although women have gained significant ground in some fields, such as medicine, biology and chemistry, there are still areas dominated by male workers.
One of Jimenez’s forensic science role models is a fictional character from TV — Abby Sciuto, a forensic scientist on “NCIS.”
“She was weird, but she liked her job so much that she kept doing it,” said Jimenez. “She didn’t really care what people said.”
Not caring what people say or think has fueled Jimenez, who is a minority in STEM areas in more ways than one.
“It hasn’t really stood out to me the fact that I’m a girl. What mostly sticks out to me is that I’m Hispanic,” she said. “I tend to go to Science Olympiad because I’m part of the science club, and you don’t see many Hispanics there.”
Senior Isabelle Stewart, who’s interested in agronomy, said it’s not unusual to see female students looking to pursue STEM careers at smaller schools like Lakeview.
“I think it’s become more and more common for girls to be interested in science and technology,” said Stewart. “I feel like here a lot of people think it’s normal.”
Jimenez isn’t intimidated by being a minority within a minority because she has support from her family.
“They know that there’s going to be people out there who don’t believe in me and they’re like, ‘That’s when you prove them wrong,'” she said.
For some girls, blazing a trail is part of the fun.
Columbus High School seniors Madi Lusche and Kendelle Krzycki are excited to be young women going into the male-dominated field of automotive technology.
“Not a lot of girls go into it,” said Lusche. “So it’s interesting being one of the few girls in the program.”
“I want to be in automotive tech, but I also want to become a teacher,” said Krzycki. “I’d be the first female to teach automotive full time in the state if I did.”
Both students got hooked on fixing cars by their fathers, then took auto and electronics classes. Lusche finished her electronics labs so quickly her teacher gave her an extra coding project involving LED lights to work on.
“I enjoyed that just typing in a few letters or numbers into the program can make the lights go faster or slower, or you can make them go in a loop,” she said. “I enjoyed that.”
Krzycki said her automotive mathematics class last semester was a breeze.
“I had guys copying off me,” she said. “It was actually kind of fun.”
