Mentoring Program for K-12 Girls in Engineering
The mentoring program is specifically catered to mentor young girls interested in engineering. Through community outreach programs and mentor-mentee engagements, we hope to inspire young girls to pursue engineering as a field of study and as a career.
Our goals are:
- To interact with young girls interested in engineering and STEM-related careers
- To provide young girls role models in engineering
- To help girls build confidence in their strengths and abilities
- To give girls a sense of belonging in the community of engineers
- To foster mentor-mentee relationships between young K-12 girls and female engineering students at Grand Valley State University
- To empower girls and motivate them to succeed in engineering
WHY MENTORING?
According to a study conducted by Microsoft, 61 percent of young women who have a female role model in STEM say that they feel "powerful while doing STEM," compared to only 44 percent of girls without role models.
After attending a mentoring program for teenage girls in STEM that was held in 2017, 70 percent of the girls said that the program helped them to decide that their "future study will be in STEM"
An experiment by the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that women who had a female peer mentor in engineering experienced a greater sense of belonging, felt more motivated and confident in engineering, and were more likely to stay in engineering majors, which led them to aspire to pursue engineering careers after college.
SCHOOLS WE PARTNER WITH
- West Michigan Aviation Academy
- City High Middle School
CONTACT
For more information, please contact Dr Lindsay Corneal at [email protected]