Women in Science event sees more than 1,000 middle school girls participate at STC

More than 1,000 middle school students from more than a dozen local schools visited Southeast Technical College for a unique Women in Science event Wednesday.

The campus visit allowed them to hear from dozens of exhibitors, try hands-on experiments and science activities, and learn more about technical career paths. Presentations included a “Who Dunnit?” by the Sioux Falls Police Department, medical career options from college students, and others by Avera, Sioux Falls Fire Rescue, Game Fish and Parks, and more.

Women in Science has held these types of events for almost 20 years in the Sioux Falls area. Organizer Mary Lou Lacey, a retired soil scientist, said the events give young girls an opportunity to see what kinds of career paths are available to them.

She said she’s also heard from teachers and parents over the years whose students went into a science field because of the experience they had at a Women in Science event.

Kyndle Paquette, an eighth-grader at Brandon Valley Middle School, said she liked learning about new medical techniques, jobs and procedures she might need to know in the future. While she’s not sure what she might want to do for a career, she said she’s always liked medical stuff and that it was cool to see the options available at the event.

Her teacher, Amanda Ringling, said she’s taken her students to this event each year since it began and that it opens up girls to science careers they may not be aware of, including computer-powered graphic design careers for creative students.

“A lot may not have realized they can apply their art in a scientific way,” Ringling said.

Mallory Hoekman, a middle school teacher at Sioux Falls Christian, said she loves bringing students to events like this one because it allows them to do more with science than they can do in her classroom.

Lisa Schramm, an assistant director of admissions at South Dakota State University and a volunteer with Women in Science, said science, technology, engineering and math fields are historically male-dominated, so introducing girls and women to those fields early on can give them more exposure before they dismiss or discount those career fields as options.

Students who visited STC for the event came from Sioux Falls Christian, Chester, Whittier, George McGovern, Dakota Valley, Brandon Valley, Tea Area, O'Gorman, Garretson, Sioux Falls Lutheran, Parker, Marion, Colman-Egan, Madison, Edison, Harrisburg North, Harrisburg South, Viborg-Hurley, Lennox, Tri-Valley, Canton, Howard and West Central middle schools.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Southeast Tech holds Women in Science event for middle school girls