What is STEM? Why is it important? What benefits will I receive from STEM? How is STEM affecting the future? All girls should be educated about the answers to these questions.

STEM, the new buzzword for the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, is really about discovery, critical thinking, invention, and problem solving. Even if a girl feels they are not talented in these subject areas, the skills girls learn from persevering through and exposing themselves to STEM are life changing.

Many girls are under a false premonition that having a STEM career means being stuck

IHA Students Emily Koehne‘18 and Kaitlyn Brown’19 used their STEM skills to create a 3-D printed device to help a young man who was having difficulties folding papers. Photo courtesy of IHAnj.com

in a lab all day, or doing calculus problems for hours on end. In fact, this is not the case, as most STEM jobs simply involve the skills that one masters while pursuing a STEM degree.

In order to increase the amount of women in the workforce in the next decade and to ensure their success, a STEM educational background is essential.

The amount of STEM jobs available within the next decades is increasing at a much higher rate than jobs in the liberal arts fields. In addition, due to the lack of women in STEM, STEM companies are specifically looking to hire women. STEM jobs on average provide higher salaries for women, and this can help lower the wage gap that women currently face.

With the United States’ reliance on technology, being well-versed in STEM is going to be crucial for girls to succeed in the 21st century workforce. Technology skills are now being required for jobs that are not even STEM-based. Whether it’s publication companies such as Buzzfeed now hiring software engineers, or aspiring economists now being recommended to know how to code, STEM skills are being required everywhere.

If girls want to be able to change the world, they need to be fluent in STEM skills. STEM can empower girls with the knowledge they need to invent the newest technology, find the cure to cancer, or create a soft-robotic heart to successfully implant into someone.

If girls do not expose themselves to STEM, they will ultimately be left out of a conversation that they must be included in. If girls do not go into STEM, their diverse perspectives will be missing during the creation of life-changing technologies. Diversity of thought is essential to make sure that these new developments are beneficial to everyone, not just men.

I hope that Beyonce’s statement that girls run the world can always stay true, and that girls have the confidence and determination to pursue STEM.

By: Emily Koehne’18, Senior Editor-in-Chief