2020 Girls: Empowering Future Leaders in Science and Math

Girls will use technology to make their coolest ideas – robots, games, apps, and more – come alive in the new 2020 Girls program that begins this month.  
 
Based in the Lansing area, 2020 Girls encourages interest in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields for young, at-risk girls and empowers them with the skills to succeed. Led by female instructors, girls will get the chance to geek out with friends and explore interests like programming, engineering, and design. Field trips and interactions with professional female role models in these fields will also reinforce the message that girls have a future equally as bright as boys in STEM careers.
 
The program was created through a partnership between the Information Technology Empowerment Center (ITEC) and the Michigan Council of Women in Technology (MCWT). In 2013, the partnership received the $26,000 Women’s Initiative Grant from the Women’s Leadership Council of the Capital Area United Way to support 2020 Girls.

“There’s a real tendency for girls to not sign up because they think it’s for the boys,” Riley says, acknowledging that this perception can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 
ITEC Executive Director Kirk Riley spearheaded this program after previous efforts to increase the number of girls in ITEC classes. “There’s a real tendency for girls to not sign up because they think it’s for the boys,” Riley says, acknowledging that this perception can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. This belief can also impact girls’ futures, as a National Council for Research on Women statistic states: “Women make up just 11 percent of engineering employees.” Statistics for females in other STEM fields are similarly dismal.
 
Seeking to tackle the issue directly, Riley approached the MCWT to propose a partnership for the program. Board member Maria Jasinski says the MCWT was thrilled to collaborate and help make 2020 Girls a reality. Jasinski herself has worked in Information Technology for 25 years, and currently works as the Vice President of IT at Michigan Millers Mutual Insurance Company.
 
Pooling their resources with ITEC, the MCWT contributed valuable connections to women in the STEM fields, providing role models and arranging field trips. The MCWT is also able to leverage the curriculum for 2020 Girls from a summer program led by their organization. In addition, entrepreneurship training will be provided and local female entrepreneurs will speak to the girls about the process of turning ideas into a company.
 
Both Riley and Jasinski emphasize the importance of community and role models for girls. Jasinski lists lack of availability of programs, social pressure, and lack of role models as a few significant challenges to getting girls interested in STEM fields.
 
“There’s a lot of research that shows role models are more important than income,” Riley says. Through interactions with female role models at 2020 Girls, students will learn about the numerous STEM opportunities available to them in the future.
 
The all-girls concept also removes any gender stereotypes and distractions. By eliminating the fear of judgment and boy-girl social pressure natural to the age, girls will feel comfortable to take an active role in exploring their passions.
 
“We need to give girls the opportunity to communicate with other girls with like-minded experiences [and] have a safe

Virtually every 2020 Girls activity will purposefully require participation in a group. "You’re setting aside your own self and being part of something bigger than you," Riley says.

environment among their friends to learn new things,” Jasinski says. “Friends are more influential on a student than their parents or teachers when they get to middle school.”
 
The first community of girls will come together in mid March when afterschool pilot classes for 2020 Girls begin in Lansing schools for students 10-14 years old. Participation will be on a first-come, first-serve basis, with the goal of a wide variety of academic levels among the students.
 
Each session is about five weeks long, and the program will take place two days a week with five hours of instruction per week. “That initial goal is to give the girls a creative space where they can explore and show off their creativity in the things that they build and design,” Riley says. “Their own ideas put into a robot or a game or an app that they develop.”
 
Through the program, girls will learn to be leaders and team players. Virtually every 2020 Girls activity will purposefully require participation in a group. “You’re setting aside your own self and being part of something bigger than you,” Riley says. This sense of community and teamwork in 2020 Girls will live on: girls who participate in the program will be encouraged to stay for subsequent sessions as mentors for the new students, strengthening community and practicing leadership.
 
Leadership is one of the many important skills that students will learn at 2020 Girls. Jasinski credits true passion for empowering people and developing their talents as her favorite aspects of being a leader. She says that the most rewarding part of working on the program is helping young girls see their possibilities and being a positive role model for them.
 
On a larger level, success for these girls can also have positive implications for the state, keeping talent fostered in Michigan to stay in Michigan.
 
2020 Girls is just the beginning.