Conference aims to get girls into math and the sciences

Aiming to boost girls' enthusiasm for science at an age when many lose interest, organizers of the Girls in Engineering, Math & Science Conference brought together about 250 fifth- and sixth-graders Saturday in Hoffman Estates.

"This is our highest number yet," Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 Associate Superintendent Lisa Small said of the number attending. The annual GEMS conference included students from Palatine Township Elementary District 15 and Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 at Conant High School in Hoffman Estates.

"Data shows that girls tend to lose their spirit for the sciences around fifth and sixth grade," Hoffman Estates High School Assistant Principal Courtney Symonds said. "So what we decided to do as a district is to try and boost that enthusiasm through this event."

The conference included a career fair with booths staffed by female scientists, engineers and mathematicians. Students and parents then joined seminars and hands-on learning activities, such as fingerprinting forensics and using molten tin to do casting. New this year was a panel of bilingual high school students sharing their experiences with Spanish-speaking parents.

Small encouraged girls and parents to keep learning and exploring science.

"If your daughter was really having fun today, how can you perpetuate that fun that keys into math, science and technology?" Small asked several parents. "How can you encourage that problem solving, that exploration and discovery that goes with that kind of mindset?"