Science & Outdoors
Young girls from throughout the state attended sessions on scientific careers such as veterinary medicine.
Women and Science Day
Event targets young women in hopes of retaining interest in science careers
The Pointer
jmath438@uwsp.edu
On Feb. 27, 395 seventh and eighth grade girls learned about the possibilities of careers in science as they attended Women and Science Day at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point.
Women and Science Day is an annual event for young girls to learn about careers and opportunities in the science field that they may have been unaware of until now.
The day started with keynote speaker Dr. Annie Wetter, associate professor of nutrition and dietetics at UW-SP. Dr. Wetter spoke on using math and science in everyday decisions such as nutrition and diet.
“Every day I use my scientific training and math to answer really simple questions that come up for people regularly,” said Wetter. “This notion of being a scientist is not about making these grand discoveries and changing the world. It’s about using the skills and knowledge to answer day-to-day questions that come up often for people.”
The students then attended three different outbreak sessions throughout the day. Topics ranged from astronomy, anthropology and architecture to military science, veterinary medicine and renewable energy. Area K-12 teachers and UW-SP faculty presented the sessions.
According to Wetter, research shows that boys and girls have the same interest in math and science until the age of 11. The Women and Science Day attempted to bridge the gap that comes after a girl’s interest in math and science starts to decline.
“I think that separating it out by gender is an effort to target girls and to try to intervene on what we know is a trend that girls start losing interest in science,” said Wetter.
Julie Hellweg, program manager in Continuing Education and coordinator for Women and Science Day at UW-SP, agrees with Wetter.
“Traditionally, there have been a minority of women in the science fields, and this program serves as an opportunity to get girls excited about the many fields of science as well as provide them the opportunity to explore many career fields,” said Hellweg.
According to Hellweg, Women and Science Day also helps to showcase the UW-SP science department and the female faculty members who work there.
“My motivation behind being involved in this is that it boggles my mind that people who want so badly to work in health and help people with their health are arriving in college shocked and dismayed that they might have to take a science class and do some basic math calculations in order to achieve that goal,” said Wetter. Plans are already in the works for next year’s Women and Sccience Day.
