Dist. 214 event aims to teach young girls about STEM careers
Vidushi Reva Srivastava, 11, of Palatine was eager to build a small, simple circuit board on Saturday.
She carefully put together some wires and tiny parts that could ultimately play four musical notes.
"This sounded like fun and I wanted to learn how to make things that every girl can make and that guys can make, too," said the sixth grader at Marion Jordan Elementary School in Palatine.
Vidushi was one of 45 girls, ages 9 to 13, who participated in the second annual Miss Maker Fair, hosted by Northwest Suburban High School District 214's WildStang Robotics Team on Saturday at Rolling Meadows High School.
While one group worked on circuit boards, another designed small model airplanes that taught about aerodynamics, gravity and flight.
The Miss Maker Fair encourages young girls to learn more about science and technology, engineering and math, known as STEM, which could lead them into fruitful careers.
This year's event filled up within a week after it was announced and had about 20 more girls on a waiting list. When the event debuted last year, it had about 30 participants.
Lauren Anfenson, 16, a junior at Rolling Meadows High School, and Veronica Boratyn, 17, a senior at Prospect High School, coordinated the event with about $1,000 funding from the school district.
The WildStang teammates noticed there weren't many girls on their team and thought it was time to start encouraging younger girls to enter the field.
The fair worked and it helped to boost female team membership from nine to 16 so far. WildStang has more than 70 members from around the district.
Lauren Anfenson designed the small musical circuit board and then helped the students learn how to put it together.
She also enjoyed putting the event together the last two years because it opens new doors for younger girls.
"We get so excited about this and love to spread this knowledge to the next generation of girls," Anfenson said.
Boratyn also wanted to pass on her love of math and science to other girls and get them just as excited about those fields, she said.
Both girls said it was critical to get younger girls interested in those fields now, so they would be willing to pursue those careers later.
"I want to make sure that the girls in the community get the same chances that I did and not be intimidated by math and science and engineering," Boratyn said.