SACH Cares Scholarship Award: Young Women in STEM
Young Women in STEM: An Interview with Elizabeth Gross
A huge congratulations to Elizabeth Gross - Our winner of this year's HHS Scholarship award of $1000 to support young women in STEM.
Young Women in STEM is our scholarship program that was launched in 2019 in support of high school girls with a passion for STEM subjects and who want to pursue a career in a STEM related field. We sourced our funding for this program through our Community based Engineering & Design Summer Workshop for elementary school children in 2019.
A big thank you to the HHS Counseling team and especially to Constance O'Loughlin who helped us coordinate the application process.
What inspired you to get into this field of study (Environmental Engineering)?
During Freshman year in Chemistry we did research project to study devices that help people with clean water. Learning about the global struggle for access to basic resources like clean water really sparked my interest in environmental science. I also took an AP Environmental Science class that I really loved.
What moved you towards the direction of STEM?
I think it’s really great that in the High School Sophomore year you can take a lot of APs (Advance Placements) which are for science courses. That really motivated me to get more involved in the science field as you get a deeper understanding and you begin diving into the areas that you’re really passionate about.
What are your hobbies outside of academics?
Over the course of the pandemic I’ve gotten really into cooking. I’ve played field hockey and tennis in high school and I really loved playing those. So in my free time I go out and play tennis with my dad. I also love to paint.
Based on the activities you did this summer, is there anything you could share with that will inspire the younger students of our town? Maybe even some advice?
I think for me a lot of it was trying to find something that didn’t feel like a chore but also helped me stay engaged. I really liked working Brain pop Science videos. I also like watching TED Talk.
Based on your experiences, what do you think can get young girls get inspired or motivated to get into STEM fields?
I think one thing would make a big impact if more women who are in these fields are brought in to speak in classes or even come and talk to girls, so they can see how there are examples of women in these fields. I know there are some clubs such as ‘Girls who code’. I think those types of clubs would also help a lot to make girls feel motivated and bring more opportunities to them.
SACH Cares is a philanthropic wing of SACH aimed at supporting initiatives based on a variety of issues we care about. We care about our town and strive to create inclusiveness in supporting all communities within Hopkinton irrespective of race, socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or gender.
Comments
Post a Comment