INDIANAPOLIS — More than 100 high school girls took part in hands-on science, technology, engineering and math activities Thursday at the American Heart Association’s ninth annual STEM Goes Red event.
The students tried five activities, including making ice cream, building a marble racetrack and using a flight simulator. The sessions offered a look at the range of opportunities in STEM fields.
“We’re inspiring women while they’re young, while they’re still thinking about what they want to do for a living,” said Haley Rudolph, the association’s executive director. “You’re outside the classroom, you’re getting to meet new people in schools that you maybe don’t attend, and you’re getting to explore interests that maybe your school doesn’t offer.”
STEM Goes Red is part of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign, which aims to empower women.
“When we think about women’s health and the future of women’s health, we need more female representation in those fields so that women have better outcomes later in life,” Rudolph said.
Local organizations led the sessions, including Allison Transmission, F.A. Wilhelm Construction, First Merchants Bank, LIFT Academy and the Marion County Public Health Department. Students also met women working in STEM and representatives from colleges to learn about possible career paths.
Letha Arnold, a junior at Ben Davis High School, said the event helped her explore what she might want to do in the future.
“I think it’s really important to get as many experiences as possible to, you know, try to figure out what I want to do in the future,” Arnold said.
Arnold said she likes the variety of skills students can develop in STEM.
“It’s not like one single thing. You get to build multiple skills, you know, science, engineering, math, even art. And so, I think that it creates a well-balanced person,” she said.
To learn more about the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign, click here.
