
Science and Young Women
We welcomed a 29 year (!!!) annual fall tradition at the Kelly Campus this week — Young Women in Science. This program engages young women’s interest in science and their development as leaders knowing their impact on the character of the field of science is vital. Over one week exploring natural science and field research these young women build skills, knowledge, and community to inspire their leadership as future scientists.
Still today, these participants are trailblazers with example scientists in the media too often being male — Bill Nye, Carl Sagan, or Neil deGrasse Tyson. Breaking this mold is Sophia Shrand and her show, “Science with Sophie”. Sophia seeks to “provide strong female science role models to everybody. It sounds maybe a little wacky to say, ‘My audience is everyone.’ But the primary audience is for kids, to get [them] excited about science.” While Sophia may have looked to Ms. Frizzle as a model, some of our participants this year may look to Sophia as a role model. Imagine in 15 years when one of the young women in the photo hosts her own show connecting science to place as a role model for the future.
Just two weeks ago today, two astronauts at the International Space Station completed the first all female space walk. Let’s celebrate both these two astronauts and these young women coming to TSS building skills and leadership in science. Over almost three decades of this program, I wonder how many TSS Young Women in Science alums’ STEM related careers (possibly in space?) were launched because of this program. If you’re curious and you have six minutes, you can find out about why potholes form in season 1, episode 1 of “Science with Sophie”.