Sunday at Two

Women Succeeding in STEM

Grade 12 student Judy did not think she had what it took to study engineering at university and therefore planned to pursue a commerce program instead. Growing up, comments like, “girls don’t do well in math” shaped her confidence around her abilities in the subject.

All of that changed when she met several students with an interest in math and science who encouraged her to pursue math, and helped her to see that everyone has math capability. She is now enrolled in Pickering College’s Grade 12 math courses and, as it turns out, she is more than good at math.

With this new-found confidence, Judy was inspired to take action and motivate other girls to pursue math and sciences, which is what she has focused on for her Capstone Project.

The Capstone Project is the culminating assignment for the Global Leadership Program and requires Grade 12 students to independently research an issue of global significance and develop an innovative solution to this issue.

Judy implemented her action plan in her home country of China where she hosted a series of 90-minute workshops for girls aged 13 to 16. Through word of mouth and social media, she advertised her workshops and arranged for the rental of a meeting room at a discounted price. She even convinced a company to sponsor the program, which she called Sunday at Two. By the third workshop, Judy had 12 participants.

During these sessions, she covered topics such as how society values and treats women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, math (STEM), future careers, and STEM applications.

The participants also had an opportunity to hear from recent Pickering College graduates who shared their experiences in pursuing STEM programs at university and participated in a workshop on computer languages such as JAVA and Python.

Judy’s time as an international boarding student at Pickering College has taught her how to get along with people from all over the world, how to talk to people and, most importantly for Judy, how to be more of an active participant rather than a follower.

School ignited her enthusiasm for making change and so she plans to continue hosting these workshops every summer until the end of university and possibly beyond. She’s also keen to develop a website platform for the program.

With graduation just a few months away, Judy has decided to follow her dream and apply to study engineering at university this fall.