Attracting Females to STEM/FIRST

[thegnat05]

Originally Posted by Citrus Dad

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.

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.

I agree with this 100%. This year was my first year being an official captain and last year I really started to spread the word about robotics. This year we had 6-8 girls that showed up to meetings regularly. Last year we had 1. Having dedicated females in leadership roles that are passionate about what they do will draw more people in. I find myself constantly talking about my team as well as other teams in the community to my friends who aren't in robotics. Some of them even came to support the team at regionals and are joining next year! Having a girl as the one who would speak at meetings and outreach events around the school seemed to make girls more comfortable in joining this male-heavy sport.