Cortland Standard .net

By AMY GERNON
Staff Reporter
agernon@cortlandstandard.net
The Cortland branch of the American Association of University Women hosted its first Tech Savvy conference Saturday at SUNY Cortland in an effort to encourage young girls to pursue careers in the four fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Aimed at girls in sixth through ninth grades and their families, the conference included workshops designed to cultivate future female scientists by introducing young girls to role models and their work in STEM fields.
About 60 students and45 adults attended the conference, which is part of a national program spurred by the AAUW’s report, “Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.” The report addresses the disparity in graduation rates between men and women in nearly every science and engineering field, despite the fact that girls and boys take math and science courses in roughly equal numbers throughout high school.
The report indicates that women are much less likely to pursue a STEM major, and those that do are less likely to graduate than their male peers.
The conference at SUNY Cortland is one of 17 taking place across the country. The program originated nine years ago at the University of Buffalo, and was adopted as a model by AAUW two years ago.
Cortland’s Tech Savvy conference was funded by a $6,000 grant provided by the AAUW. Cortland is one of 34 branches of the AAUW in New York. The AAUW has about 170,000 members across the nation. The Cortland branch of the AAUW is celebrating its50th anniversary this year.
Girls who attended chose three out of a dozen interactive and informative sessions, like “Astrophysics is Fun” and What’s the Big Deal About Pi?” along with a Savvy Skills Workshop with topics including “Girl Talk: Social Media, Self-Esteem and Positive Communication.” The girls were also asked to fill out a practice college application and were later given mock interviews.
“It’s just talking about yourself, and it was a very comfortable setting. I didn’t feel pressured that I had to say one specific thing, like people think most interviews are,” Lydia Mekeel, 15, a ninth-grader from Cortland, said about her practice interview. Mekeel intends to study business and graphic design and will pursue a career in interior design.
One interviewer, Karl Klein, a professor of computer studies at Onondaga County Community College, was impressed with the young girls with whom he spoke.
“One reason I’m here, we’ve got the role models in our department, and smart girls in sixth and eighth grade, but somehow they are peeling off before they get to college,” Klein said. He added that his department has eight full-time faculty members, five of whom are women.
“Even if we have a girl or two in class, it’s tough to be in a class with all guys,” Klein added.
Ana Kay Yaghoubian, the AAUW’s STEM manager, stressed the importance of fighting the implicit messages of the classroom and the stereotypes about scientists and engineers that deter girls from pursuing STEM careers.
“Girls are very focused at this age on how they can make the world a better place,” Yaghoubian said. “We want to show them that STEM fields can do that.”
Based on pre- and post-survey responses, Yaghoubian said girls who attend the conference report that they are more likely to take math and science courses in school.
Presenters at the conference come from a wide background of STEM fields, including mathematics, geology, biology, physics, communications, chemistry and library sciences.
The AAUW’s Tech Savvy conference is unique in that there are special workshops designed for adults to help them encourage young girls to pursue STEM careers, Yaghoubian said.
Ellen Tapley, an English teacher in the Syracuse area, attended with her daughter, Evelyn Ryan, 11, a sixth-grader at Grimshaw Elementary School in LaFayette.
“Kids don’t know what STEM means in real life, what they can do with it in these disciplines,” Tapley said.
“I thought it was neat that it was just for girls,” said Daphne Reyburn, an elementary school teacher who attended with her daughter, Rebekah Ryan, 11, of LaFayette, who has a particular interest in botany.
Sheila Cohen, a former associate professor of literacy at SUNY Cortland and active member of the Cortland branch of AAUW, was inspired to organize the event by her own professional and academic experiences.
“My mother encouraged me to go to college to meet a husband,” said Cohen, a graduate of City College of New York, now CUNY.
“I always wanted to be a STEM person, an engineer, a physicist, a computer scientist. And I never did, and I always regretted that I never followed my dreams,” Cohen said.
Cohen hopes that in addition to inspiring young women to pursue STEM careers, the event also encourages them to become members of the AAUW so that the group’s traditions can be sustained.