Hosted by the US National College Resources Foundation (NCRF), the 2021 All Girls STEAM Expo represents more than 30 young women sharing information about their exciting careers in STEAM.
NCRF’s STEAM acronym stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Agriculture, Aviation, Aerospace and Mathematics. The event was created to target young ladies 12 to 18 years due to the gender gap in STEAM fields.
The All Girls STEAM Expo promotes the curiosity of young students regarding their options in various career paths. NCRF’s mission is to curtail the high school dropout rate and increase degree and/or certificate enrollment among underserved, underrepresented, at risk, low resource, homeless and foster students.
NCRF’s vision is to close the gap in educational achievement, workforce and economic disparities with the goal to end racism and racial inequalities. Research shows by the time students reach college, women are significantly under-represented in STEM majors. Only 21 per cent of engineering majors are women and approximately 19 per cent of computer and information science majors are women. Over thirty young STEAM professionals will be on hand virtually to encourage more girls to enter the STEAM fields so by sharing with girls they too can be an inventor, scientist, engineer, or astronomer, no matter their ethnicity or gender.
Girls have fewer role models to inspire their interest in STEAM fields. NCRF’s Director of Operations and STEAM Veronica Kummerfeldt says NCRF is on a mission to change that. “There are even fewer role models of Black women in math and science, said Kummerfeldt. “We have a plethora of professionals speaking at the event to expand the minds of the students so that they think outside of the box and get exposed to different professions.”
Girls engaged in projects at STEAM Expo