October 20, 2022
NORTHEAST WISCONSIN – Historically, careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) have been perceived as a male-dominated field.
According to the American Association of University Women (AAUW), just 21% of students majoring in engineering are women, and only 19% are computer science majors.
Businesses and organizations, such as the Fox Cities Chamber and the YWCA, are doing their part to teach and encourage young girls that a career in STEM is possible for them.
The chamber’s annual event, Smart Girls Rock!, aims to do just that.
Smart Girls Rock!
Sharla Jens, vice president of emerging talent for the Fox Cities Chamber said the program – which started more than five years ago – includes hands-on activities, such as live welding, the encapsulation process, gaming demonstrations, improving efficiencies in an assembly process and 3D modeling in architecture.
“It is important for girls to learn more about STEM-based careers because it offers an exciting and challenging world of opportunities,” she said. “Women are underrepresented in the fields of STEM, and we encourage young girls to pursue their goals and dreams. Smart Girls Rock! allows the chamber to partner with Fox Cities employers who offer STEM careers to get young girls excited about careers in these areas, and start receiving the academic guidance they need.”
Why it’s important
Jill FitzSimons, an electrical engineer for McMahon, a civil engineering company in Neenah, said she knows first-hand the importance of guidance.
“Not all girls have encouragement at home, within their group of friends or even in the classroom,” she said. “It is important women in STEM fields encourage other women in STEM and girls that are potentially interested in STEM career fields.”
Participants at Smart Girls Rock! Submitted Photo
FitzSimons said she was lucky to have parents that supported her career goals and stressed how important it is “for a woman to be able to support herself.”
At McMahon, FitzSimons said there are a total of 19 women who work in a STEM-based position: five in engineering (includes electrical controls, civil and wastewater), two in architecture, eight in building information modeling (BIM) design (includes electrical, architectural and structural) and four in accounting.
While the number of women in STEM fields has increased over the years, she said in 2019, women only represented about 34% of STEM workers.
FitzSimons said women in engineering are even less – at only 14%.
“When I graduated from Milwaukee School of Engineering in the early 2000s, the male-to-female ratio was eight to one,” she said. “We still have a long way to go.”
Since STEM is still a career field heavily dominated by men, FitzSimons said one of the biggest misconceptions about being a woman in STEM is just that – that women do not fit the perception of what a STEM professional looks like.
“Several years ago, I was at a job site with my computer-aided design (CAD) technician – who happened to be male – and the male head of the science department kept directing engineering questions to my male co-worker,” she said. “I continued answering all the questions in a professional manner, but inside I was seething. Afterward, my male coworker told me how uncomfortable this made him after experiencing gender bias first-hand.”
Now, at McMahon, FitzSimons said she is proud to work for a company that values women in STEM – and supports future generations of women – and is looking forward to talking to the girls at Smart Girls Rock!
“Women are just as capable in any field that a man is,” she said. “Why limit our capacity for innovation to just one gender?”
Preconstruction Manager Adrienne Caron is one of more than 90 women in STEM-related positions at Faith Technologies Incorporated (FTI).
Though she attended college right out of high school, Caron said she struggled to decide which career path to follow.
“Girls were not historically presented with or encouraged in STEM careers,” she said. “I had always loved STEM and knew whatever I did it would be in a related field. Eventually, I realized that with construction. It’s a great way to do what I love and get a front row seat in an industry that is constantly evolving.”
Caron said advancements in STEM come from innovative thinkers and imaginative collaboration, and that happens best in environments with people who have diverse perspectives and backgrounds.
“By bringing awareness to the needs and benefits of diversity, we’re proving that women make STEM better and are necessary to tackle the problems our world is facing,” she said. “By showing young girls what careers are out there in STEM and supporting them as they pursue those careers, we’re showing girls that they can succeed in and make valuable contributions to the STEM field.”
YWCA TechGYRLS® program
The YWCA of Greater Green Bay, which offers programs throughout the community designed to empower women, girls and families, also supports work to inform and inspire young girls about the possibility of a career in STEM.
Amy Schaube, the executive director and CEO, said its TechGYRLS® after-school program is all about empowerment and providing girls with opportunities to increase their skills and confidence in the use of technology and engineering.
“The goal of TechGYRLS® is to provide technology and STEM education in an all-girl environment where girls feel comfortable taking risks and opening up to new learning opportunities,” she said.?
In 2021, Schaube said the YWCA of Greater Green Bay took it to the next level by adding “A” (arts) to the now S.T.E.A.M. Experience Series.
She said the program upgrades also included opportunities for participants to go out in the community and see what is possible in their future – “literally ‘seeing’ women as engineers (versus) teachers.”
Jill FitzSimons at McMahon said she enjoys teaching girls about all the possibilities in STEM at Smart Girls Rock! Submitted Photo
“The series seeks to empower young girls in technology, engineering, arts and math and to encourage them to pursue careers within these fields,” she said. “Through collaboration with area organizations and businesses, the workshops and field visits will be led by women leaders within the S.T.E.A.M. industries.”
Schaube said through the program, girls are able to learn from women business analysts, project managers and developers; spend time in operating rooms learning to X-ray and conduct ultrasounds; model high-speed locomotives for future transportation; wiring circuits and play with robots and learn about compounding and investing.
She said the series collaborates with local organizations, such as Bellin College, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC), the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, The Art Garage, The Farmory, Railroad Museum, Krueger International and the Green Bay Packers/Titletown.
“(These organizations) make this a winning program and experience for both the business and the girls alike,” she said. “These businesses are creating a path for their future workforce of empowered young women.”
Guiding the next generation
For Molly Delsart, an electro-mechanical instructor and electronics coach at NWTC, a career in STEM has led her to guide the next generation of women working in the field.
“We have multiple STEM programs that all do their hands-on work in our tech hall,” she said. “Our courses bridge all of those majors… it’s a special environment where I get to deal with a lot of students.”
Delsart said she credits a lot of her career to the encouragement she received when she was young – especially from her cousin, who worked at NASA and supported her interest in the field of STEM as a child, which led her to attend Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) to become an electrical engineer.
At the time, Delsart said only one in 15 students who attended MSOE were female.
In her eyes, Delsart said creating a diverse and supportive team is one of the most important puzzle pieces for success in STEM.
“There’s a lot of pressure on girls to not act as smart as they are,” she said. “(I tell) girls, ‘Look around; you all sit together. And you support each other. Because unless you have that support, it makes it even harder to be successful…’ Because in industry, you realize very quickly that diversity brings strength, it brings better ideas and it brings better solutions.”
Now, when she works with children at camps she said she’s honored to be the one to encourage the next generation.
“I tell them, ‘Dream big. Don’t limit yourself. And don’t be afraid of this,’” Delsart said. “If you are willing to work hard, you are smart enough to do this.”
More information on the Fox Cities Chamber’s Smart Girls Rock! can be found at foxcitieschamber.com, while details on the S.T.E.A.M. Experience Series can be found at ywcagreenbay.org.