Thursday, Feb. 1, in Stoffer Science Hall, the Women In STEM club kicked off February with their first meeting of the semester. Women In STEM members met at 6 p.m. in Stoffer 311. For this first meeting, they planned out meetings to follow, fundraising, volunteer opportunities and activities.
Despite the name, this is an all inclusive club; welcoming not only women, but students from all majors. Mary Grace Tyler, senior president of the Women in STEM club, and other members strive to create a supportive environment, inspire others, form connections and network within the STEM industry.
“We are open to everyone, every major, so you don’t have to be in STEM to be a part of our club. We are very inclusive,” Tyler said. “We do have a couple of male members, too. But we really wanted to focus on advocating for equal opportunity for women in STEM fields because they are very male dominated. And that can be very intimidating, especially for women that really want to pursue a career in STEM.”
Although this is an inclusive club, Tyler stresses the importance of letting women know that they, too, belong in a generally male dominated field. This club provides women with an equal opportunity to be involved in STEM fields. Tyler is breaking the stigma that science or STEM fields are unachievable as a woman.
“It was hard growing up being like STEM or science, was only a boys thing, like I can’t do that even though I really wanted to,” Tyler said. “And so I kind of want to create an area for other young women to feel included so that they can do pretty much anything.”
Women in STEM offer many ways to get involved and get community service hours. They currently are working on a project that consists of taking bushes out to replace them with native plants. They also have a goal of collecting 1000 pounds of recycling to turn in return for a bench.
If you’re interested in donating, recycling and/or joining Women in STEM, join them for their next Valentine’s Day themed meeting Feb. 15. You can also check out their instagram page for more updates at @wwistem.
Edited by Stuti Khadka and Jeremy Ford
