Some 150 girls between third and eighth grade got to button up lab coats, put on hard hats and try their hand in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) during Imagination Station’s 10th annual Girl Power event Saturday.
“It's when we celebrate women in STEAM fields where they're still, unfortunately underrepresented out in the world,” Jenny Roe, the director of education for Imagination Station, said.
Earlier in the morning, the girls broke up into five separate workshops led by career professionals, featuring hands-on activities to immerse the young minds in different possibilities for their futures.
“I liked taking apart the keyboard,” 11-year old Kaylee Floyd said of one of the workshops that allowed her to take a look at circuitry and wiring.
Other workshops had animals, environmental explanations and chemistry with which to play. Lydia Ratushinskaya-Saltz, age 9, of Waterville enjoyed the makeup science breakout space, where the girls mixed their own cosmetics. “I just like experimenting with the flavors and colors,” she said.
But perhaps the biggest draw for the day was the keynote speaker, Sydney Hamilton, an aerospace engineering manager for Boeing in Los Angeles.
Ms. Hamilton expressed the importance of being role models to young girls, “So they know, ‘Hey, I can be an engineer, I can be a scientist.’”
“For me, it's about knowing that you have the opportunity to become a STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] leader,” she said, highlighting that many girls don’t have women role models to show them how to break into different industries, specifically with STEM/STEAM.
During the past decade, Ms. Hamilton made her way in the fields of aeronautics and engineering, interning with NASA, General Electric and receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering.
“Ever since I was a little girl, I used to always want to fly, I would stand outside and tie the blanket around my neck, and try to take off superhero style,” she said, expressing gratitude to her family for supporting and guiding her.
But not everyone was so supportive of her dreams. After taking an aptitude test in high school, Ms. Hamilton’s test told her she should be an engineer.
“I told him [the teacher in her high school] with a lot of excitement, I'm going to be an engineer,” she said. “And he looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘Isn't that going to be too hard for someone like you?’ And immediately I was deflated.”
It’s unclear what the teacher exactly meant, but the discouragement weighed on her.
And Ms. Hamilton shared that, she didn’t, “... feel like I had someone in the aerospace industry that I knew well, that looked like me.” But luckily another teacher helped her push back the discouraging comment. “She looks at me and says, ‘Sydney since when do you listen to anybody?’”
“And that's part of what inspired me to be here,” Ms. Hamilton said, and she hoped to inspire the girls at Imagination Station beyond what they had believed was possible before the event.
“If she can see it, then she can be it,” Ms. Hamilton summed it up.
Tickets to the workshops and keynote were $30 for participants and $20 for chaperones, with a $5 discount for each price with an Imagination Station membership. After 1 p.m., when the more formal parts of the day had wrapped up, 30 tables were set up by local businesses in the STEAM fields, and were freely open to the public to explore.
“My big hope for their [the girls’] takeaway is that they come away with one person that they're like, ‘That's what I want to do when I grow up,’ or I can look up to them and try a different career path that maybe they didn't know existed,” Ms. Roe said.
First Published March 3, 2024, 12:12 a.m.