Attracting Females to STEM/FIRST

[Citrus Dad]

Originally Posted by popnbrown

I actually think this is a bigger issue than having a continuous program. As I've seen, a lot of girls join FRC teams but slowly drop out of the STEM aspect of FIRST. It attributes to why you see more girls do more of the business development/outreach aspects of teams. There's just a different personality that people develop when "in the shop".

I think the important step here is to move girls into leadership roles. We'll have a female captain for the third year in a row.

Originally Posted by popnbrown

^ great idea but how? Are you guys looking at starting earlier for girls or doing separate training session for them? I find it hard (not with girls) but other shy students to get them to contribute equally during full team meetings.

The most important aspect is giving girls more time to participate and being conscientious about reaching past the first volunteer. It involves more mindfulness. It's almost making student leaders aware of taking these steps--leading by example.