Y.O.U. Event Promotes STEM Careers For Girls

Youth & Opportunity United and the McGaw YMCA’s Take Over event at MetaMedia on Friday focused on the roles of women in science and technology.

At the event, students from Y.O.U.’s middle school programs created activities for kids to learn more about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics careers and STEM role models.

A popular booth was the Affirmation Station, led by students from Y.O.U.’s after school program at Martin Luther King Jr. Literary and Fine Arts School, where youth could write positive messages to help them overcome obstacles.

Another booth allowed girls to make pins with the photographs of well-known, and not-so-well-known, women scientists such as the black women who were active in a NASA predecessor in the 1940s.

Meanwhile, at the Code It station, MetaMedia staff and STEM experts guided students in introductory coding activities.

The event culminated in a communal pizza dinner and a chance for attendees to return to their favorite activities.

When asked her favorite part of the event, Natalia, a 7th grader at Nichols Middle School said, “I liked making my own pins and learning about women who have made a change in the world.”