Beyond the Stars: Hidden Figures Shine!

Over 200 middle school girls attended the first ever ABC CREATE Girls' STEM Day on Tuesday November 21, 2018. STEM professionals from Toshiba American Medical Systems, Arconic, Matthew International, and IQ Inc. shared their perspective, experiences and insights about working in STEM.
The girls watched the movie Hidden Figures, an inspirational movie about three African-American female mathematicians who overcame hurdles and challenges to help NASA's space program in the 1960s when NASA (and the country) was still segregated. Finally, the attendees had time to explore many STEM topics and activities in an afternoon of "STEM Playground". The STEM Playground included stations such as drones, 3D printing, light-up circuits, Hour of Code, Coding in 3D, Virtual Reality, Spectroscopy, and even Oobleck.

The feedback from the participants was overwhelmingly positive. It was a great day of exploration and inspiration for these middle school girls. EVENT LISTING

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Kiski Area Upper Elementary student Sophia Peltier, 11, said she gets to do STEAM activities at her school, but enjoyed getting to try all of the different activities.

Peltier gave a thumbs-up and an “awesome” to the all-girls event.
Emily Marchlewski, 13, who attends Charles Houston Middle School in the Burrell School District, got to fly a drone.
“It's pretty fun,” she said. “I like how it can just hover without cords and just in the air.”
Marchlewski said she's interested in engineering, architecture and orthopedic medicine.
Plum High School science and math teacher Stephanie Reilly said she often sees girls take a secondary role in her classes while the boys take the lead.
She said having an all-girls event allows girls to experiment and learn on their own.
“We have pushed really hard to get females in our classes,” Reilly said.