SYRACUSE — A group of about 30 high-school aged girls will participate in an upcoming STEM summer-camp program that seeks to encourage more women to pursue careers in science and technology. STEM is short for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. CNY STEM Hub, Le Moyne College, Partners For Education & Business Inc., and Dallas, Texas–based […]
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SYRACUSE — A group of about 30 high-school aged girls will participate in an upcoming STEM summer-camp program that seeks to encourage more women to pursue careers in science and technology.
STEM is short for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
CNY STEM Hub, Le Moyne College, Partners For Education & Business Inc., and Dallas, Texas–based AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) are organizing the event.
Partners For Education & Business is an affiliate of MACNY, the Manufacturers Association of Central New York.
The CNY STEM Hub is “focused on impacting students in the classroom by implementing new teaching strategies in multi-disciplinary/inquiry-based methodologies with real world applications,” according to its website.
The summer camp is officially called “CNY STEM Hub Summer Camp for Young Women Powered by AT&T.” Organizers have already chosen the participants following an application process.
The organizers contend careers in technology fields are “alarmingly male-dominant,” according to a news release about the event issued June 24.
“We really need more people pursuing STEM and really this [is what the] effort’s all about … We need more women pursuing degrees in STEM,” says Joseph Vargo, executive director of Partners for Education & Business.
Vargo, who is also an administrator for the CNY STEM Hub, spoke with CNYBJ on July 11.
About the camp
The weeklong summer program is scheduled July 25 through July 29 at Le Moyne College’s newly renovated Coyne Science Center.
Participants will learn computer-coding basics, robotic engineering, computer-science literacy, and other STEM-related topics.
To “ensure inclusion and diversity,” the organizers are “committed” to having at-risk high-school girls make up at least 50 percent of the program participants.
And, in an effort to “eliminate economic barriers,” organizers indicate that registration is free, transportation is available upon request, and that the camp will provide lunch.
The camp will connect girls with team-based STEM projects designed to “make a difference” in their schools and community, while providing them “hands-on” experience developing their own technology.
The program will have the students spending half their day building on communication and problem-solving skills through guest speakers and best practices.
The girls will use the other half of each day to participate in informational tours, work on projects in the Le Moyne College Maker Zone, and to participate in mentoring-dialogue circles with professional women from STEM-related companies.
Meriel Stokoe, who most recently served as education director at the MOST (Museum of Science & Technology) in Syracuse, will be the camp director.
Students will also interact daily with Doug Hill of the Le Moyne College Maker Zone, located in the Madden School of Business, the organizers say.
Mentoring program
Besides the camp, CNY STEM Hub and AT&T are partnering to establish the Women in STEM mentoring program, according to the news release.
It’s an initiative linking up more than 100 young women interested in STEM with women in STEM professions from the region.
“They will have an opportunity to continue to interact with women who are already in the STEM professions,” says Vargo.
The program will have the women and students meeting for networking and formal programming at a local STEM company, such as SRC, Inc or C&S Companies, he added.
The mentoring program is designed to build off the “momentum” from the STEM summer camp and to “continue to strip away” gender barriers in STEM education and professions, according to the news release.
AT&T says it supports programs focused on STEM disciplines in New York through AT&T Aspire, the company’s $350 million philanthropic initiative.
The program is contributing about $20,000 for both the summer camp and the Women in STEM mentoring program that will follow in the months ahead, an AT&T spokesman told CNYBJ.
Pushing STEM careers
The organizations involved cite data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Department of Labor as indicating “much of the growth” in the domestic and global economy will come from STEM-related jobs, a “highly lucrative and competitive” field.
By 2020, it is estimated the nation will have 2.4 million unfilled STEM jobs, with more than half made up of computer and coding careers, according to the news release.
The organizations contend that data is “underscoring the importance” of providing young people the tools and skills “necessary to compete in this innovation economy.”
The low percentage of females who are currently employed at major technology firms (29 percent) and women pursuing bachelor’s degrees in computer science (18 percent) highlight the “urgency” for more STEM and computer-science education employees, the organizations contend.
They also cite the White House, which has indicated women in STEM jobs earn 33 percent more than those in non-STEM occupations. They also have a “smaller” wage gap relative to men.
The organizations believe increasing opportunities for women in these fields is an “important step” toward “greater economic success and equality” for women across the board.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com