Opinion
Special pieces about current issues in the STEM field.
Photo by Allison Cheng
It is crucial to have more initiatives and clubs at schools in the low-income, underserved areas because having some sort of experience will allow a child that does want to major in STEM, to feel more confident in their ability to succeed. An example of a program is “Girls Who Code," an initiative to empower and get rid of the gap for girls in tech. They replenish the seed of a young girl’s interest for tech. So, why is this important? Without programs like this in schools, students who end up pursuing STEM in the future will feel behind compared to their peers. “I think that having more opportunities for high school students in rural and underserved communities is important. I didn’t have any exposure to STEM opportunities, so when I got to college, I felt like I didn't know as much as my peers, which led me to feeling discouraged,” according to Julia Mooney, Cluster 9’s course assistant. Julia expressed how not having the exposure to opportunities in STEM, and no one there to guide her in that aspect, led her to feel discouraged. Her peers had done programs, taken the highest level courses, and went above and beyond for their STEM education. However, Julia simply did not have access to these opportunities because of where she grew up.
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