By Aiden Forusz, Year 12
Women in STEAM is a student-run club which seeks to encourage women all over the world to pursue studies and careers in STEAM, which is a field that they have been historically underrepresented in. This includes supporting and creating opportunities for the women in our school to engage with science. This interview today will take place with the co-leaders of the WinSTEAM club: Yunseo Lee, Siwon Park, and Diya Doda.
What inspired you to become involved with the WinSTEAM club this year?
Yunseo: Regrettably, I hadn’t been involved at all with the Women in STEAM club before this year, nor with much else around school. Diya, however, was quite involved last year and offered Siwon and myself the positions of co-leaders, knowing our backgrounds and passion for science. The opportunity to inspire and encourage girls who share my love for STEAM is something that drew me in then as much as now, as we progress through the school year and work on various projects. It is certainly a meaningful and rewarding role, being able to make changes here in our own community and beyond.
What are some of the largest challenges you’ve faced this year, and how are you feeling about the club now?
Siwon: So far, the preparation of the science fair was the greatest challenge we had to face this year. Since it was a big project involving the Middle School students, we had to arrange several meetings with the teachers for the success of our event. Luckily, our club members were very supportive and enthusiastic about our initiative, so we overcame the challenge pretty smoothly. After this main event, we really felt grateful for our club members. I would like to thank everyone who supported us on our journey!
What are some of the main projects and activities that the WinSTEAM club has embarked on so far?
Siwon: There is a project the club has been working on since last year, which is to collect donations for Khadijatu, a young woman in Sierra Leone who wants to be the first cardiothoracic surgeon in her area to provide surgeries for people in need. We collected donations through bake sales and the Winter Market to cover her tuition fees for medical school, and we have almost reached the amount that we need to raise in total! Our club also thought about ways to influence our school community and came up with an idea of organizing a science fair. We aimed to spark the interest of Middle School students in science subjects. We invited some Year 8 students to the Salève to show fun and interactive science experiments in various subjects such as Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Robotics! Our hard work felt worthwhile when seeing the joy on the students’ faces.
Looking ahead, what is your vision for the WinSTEAM club at Ecolint?
Diya: We have lots of ideas for the future. Firstly, we would like to run the science fair one more time so that we can reach even more students who would have hopefully heard good things from those who attended this one. Then, we will be continuing with fundraising, as well as talking with other non-profit organizations. We recently spoke with one called Thriving Elements and we are now trying to promote their cause. We have many more ideas such as inviting various female guest speakers to the school. Hopefully we are able to accomplish a few more things before the club is passed on to the next leaders!
What advice would you give to any women pursuing a career in STEAM?
Diya: In my opinion, the most important thing is to trust yourself and push through even when you’re feeling a little overwhelmed or intimidated. It’s easy to compare yourself to others, especially when you’re a girl in a male-dominated area. Don’t panic if things aren’t going as smoothly as you would hope, STEAM is hard but it’s so rewarding! It’s tough to often be surrounded by very few girls, but the more you keep pushing through, the better it gets. It can be scary, but you’re more than capable!
Finally, what message would you like to spread to anyone interested in joining the club?
Yunseo: Anyone who is interested in making a difference for LGB’s women in STEAM is welcome to join! Female representation in STEAM fields is something that we as a school, society, and world need to appreciate and work on, and what better way is there to do so than begin in our own community?
We usually meet on Fridays during morning break in SA110 and we’re also reachable at winsteam.lgb@gmail.com and winsteam.lgb on Instagram.
