On Thursday 1 August, a group of Year 10 female students, accompanied by two staff members, attended the Women in STEM conference at Melbourne Zoo. Females are drastically under-represented in STEM subjects and jobs across the world.
The conference was hosted by Zoos Victoria, St Aloysius College and girledworld and began with a presentation explaining what the future of work looks like in an age of rapid change. Students were then introduced to a number of global and local STEM role models and in the afternoon they were involved in a design thinking challenge, which sought to foster a love of STEM and also help them identify STEM skills and interests.
Here's a reflection from student Zoe Hendriks (Year 10 Bronze):
The Women in STEM excursion was really eye-opening. Along with six other Year 10 girls, I heard from guest speakers who are true role models in their fields. They told us about how they use science, technology, engineering and maths in their careers and why it’s important to get more women and girls into STEM subjects and careers.
We also participated in an activity where we had the opportunity to observe animals at the Melbourne Zoo and design enriching toys or add-ons to habitats using the skills we had learnt during the day. The opportunity to attend is one I am very grateful for as it gave us firsthand insight into what a career in STEM involves.
