STEM for Girls club Anonymous

I initially noticed it at my first A Level Physics class. This was the second most popular subject at school, and yet I was the only girl there. Ditto with Advanced Mathematics: I was the only female student there, and I wanted to get to the root of why I was such an anomaly.

I asked several female students about their attitudes to science subjects, and received a variety of answers; it seemed like a convoluted subject, one that required innate affinity. Every stumbling point seemed to reaffirm their "lack of talent." So, I decided to spread the message that Science Is For Girls. The Meera Kaul Foundation aided my efforts to start a club where female STEM professionals provided female students with contacts and guidance at school symposia. I later volunteered at and led a delegation to the local Women-in-STEM Conference.

Leading young female science enthusiasts has been invaluable, and I intend to pursue this further at the Brown SWE chapter. It’ll take more a club to lift such mental barriers, but it’s a start.