Grant will help U-46 draw more girls to science, math

Elgin Area School District U-46 will use a national grant to pilot a program this fall to get more students — particularly girls — interested in science, technology, engineering and math.

The district will start the Science Technology, Engineering and Math Equity Academy, or STEM — a program providing professional development to a group of 40 administrators, faculty and counselors from the district’s five high schools. The training aims to help them attract girls and other underrepresented groups to science and math-related fields.

“The biggest influence on students comes from high school,” said Jennifer McDonnell, coordinator of math, science, industrial technology and the planetarium in U-46. “This will train our teachers and counselors on opportunities for girls, work with them and get them engaged in math and science for postsecondary education and careers.”

McDonnell said there is wide gap between the number of male and female students enrolled in subjects like advanced physics or computer science at the district’s high schools.

“In 2010-2011, girls made up 28 percent of the AP physics classes in the district,” said McDonnell, noting enrollment in computer science courses was in the single digits. “You need AP physics for the engineering program at the University of Illinois. We need to increase that because that’s where the high-paying high-demand jobs are.”

The $50,000 grant for the STEM Academy came from the Innovation Generation program through the Motorola Solutions Foundation.

The funds will be administered by the National Alliance for Partnership in Equity Education Foundation, whose mission is to promote girls in science, technology, engineering and math-related careers.

Last spring, the education foundation collaborated with the district and several local business partners to submit an application to the Innovation Generation program.

Local business owner Sandra Westlund-Deenihan is a member of the education foundation’s board of directors. She said the grant will open the door to future generations of girls who want to pursue a career in historically male-dominated fields.

“When I was working my way up through the ranks as an engineer, I had many barriers,” said Westlund-Deenihan, president of Schaumburg-based Quality Floats Works, Inc.

“I had to work twice as hard as a man. I had to out-engineer them. We want to tell girls today that they can do anything.”