Middle school girls respond enthusiastically to conference

Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.

This past week, the walls of the Science Center were covered with posters warning students to study elsewhere, as 150 middle schools girls would be running around the Science Commons on Saturday afternoon. The girls were on campus for the Expanding Your Horizons (EYH), a conference focused on encouraging middle schools girls in the math and sciences. “The conference provides middle school girls with the opportunity to try out some new and exciting topics in math and science while also meeting women and female students who are pursuing these typically male-dominated fields.” said Lauren Yoshizawa ’09. Along with Patricia Kelly ’08, Yoshizawa was a co-coordinators of the conference, though “it has really been a committee effort” she said in an email.

The conference focuses on middle school because, according to committee member Nicole Belanger ’08, “Middle school is the age where girls and boys are on par in the maths and sciences, but by high school, girls have checked out of it.” Though it is unclear why this happens, Belanger says that part of it is because these fields aren’t thought of as the “cool” thing to do. The conference provides positive reinforcement for girls who are at this stage. “It brings together girls who are excited about math and science and provides a lot of positive female models, both in the faculty and the gender workshop leaders.” says Sarah Cotcamp ’07, another committee member.

The girls spend the day in math and science workshops with students from all different schools. They also have a gender-discussion workshop which “allow them to start thinking about the gender gap that persists in higher education and the professional world.” says Lauren. At the same time, the parents are also attending workshops. The parent workshops focus on issues of gender discussion, both in their lives, but mostly for their daughters. “They have a lot of general anxiety and worries about how to keep their girls in maths and science, how to help them get into their college.” said Cotcamp. The parent workshops stressed the importance of supporting and encouraging girls to stick with their math and science classes. “It also allowed them to trade general tips amongst themselves on raising their daughters, dealing with puberty, the stress associated with starting high school.”

The math and science workshops are run by female members of the faculty, and the gender-discussion are lead by students. This year’s conference had workshops with topics as varied as nursing, forensic science, game theory, and marine biology. Math/Stats Professor Aimee Johnson, who lead a math workshop, said “I try to introduce mathematical topics they won’t usually have seen in their classes and the girls are usually enthusiastic and ready to try something new.”

Professor of Economics Amanda Bayer, who lead a game theory workshop, explained that she had attended a EYH conference with her daughter one year, and was inspired by the student leaders of the conference “I believe the conference encourages the girls to think creatively as they consider which classes and careers to explore.” she said over e-mail. During their lunch break at the conference, the girls chatted enthusiastically about the workshops they had attended thus far. “I went to a game theory work shop, and we got M+Ms. It was really cool.” said Tyler Bell, a student from Southern Middle school. “I really liked that workshop because now when I play a game against a person, I can think more about the strategy.”

Girls face all sorts of problems when it comes to succeeding in the maths and science– everything from boys receiving more attention from teachers in the younger grades, to women having a more difficult time advancing in academia. “Try this yourself,” says Johnson. “Go the web pages of the top universities-Harvard, Yale, Princeton etc.- and look at the faculty in math and sciences.” The names are mostly male. “In math at least, almost half the PhD’s granted are to females: you’ve got to wonder where they all go.”

The girls themselves are sensitive to these issues. When Ashley Borton of Twin Valley Middle School was asked if it was important to have conferences like this just for girls, she responded emphatically “Yes! Because boys are stupid.” The other girls laughed and nodded in agreement, as did this reporter. On a more serious note, Shanice Maldon from Southern Middle School said “Some boys, I’m not saying all boys, but some boys aren’t focused on going to college.” Bell added “They can drag the girl down.” Vicky Roids complained that “I think [people] take it for granted that guys are better [at math and science], and that’s so unfair” Beth King, another middle schooler, added “A lot of the time, girls are paying more attention but guys get more attention. So it’s important to have conferences like these so girls can get together and talk about math and science.”

One thing is for sure, these girls are definitely thinking ahead and planning for their future. “Though I thought wanted to go to Princeton, I really liked the workshops today.” said Keasha Reeves, from Southern Middle School. “But I think that Swarthmore might be the place for me.”