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| Art students create mural |
Staff Writer
There
is a national problem with attracting women to careers in STEM fields. Studies
have shown that many women are highly skilled in the STEM fields; they make
great programmers and are creative problem solvers. However, women don’t feel
equipped to succeed in a mainly masculine field, and lack a sense of belonging in
the techie, sometimes nerdy, atmosphere. According to the Association of
American Colleges and Universities, “Women earned 17 percent of bachelor’s
degrees in engineering, compared to 79 percent of bachelor’s degrees in
education (Planty et al. 2009). Within STEM fields, women’s under representation
is particularly severe in majors like computer science, physics, and
engineering—fields that include better-paying jobs after graduation.” Celeste
Smith, a programming teacher at Apex High, found a way to counteract the
problem: painting a mural on one of the walls in her classroom.
Smith
reached out to the art department at Apex, wondering if the students who work
on chalk murals in the courtyard could do something similar in her classroom. Sophomore
Hannah Siegel, junior Jessica Boland, and junior Rachel Layko made sketches of
possible mural designs and surveyed the female programmers to see what colors
and scenery they would find most comfortable. We just wanted color, the wall
was so boring at first,” says Siegel. “It was kind of hard to look at what they
[the programming students] wanted, but we came to a compromise and are really
happy with it.” The ladies came to a consensus of an abstract and stylized
ocean scene with turquoise themed colors.
“This
project has exceeded my expectations,” says Smith. “The interactions between
the art students and the girls in all the classes have made the images change
and inspire us all.” With a prominent AOIT program at Apex, a more welcoming
atmosphere in the programming lab creates an opportunity for every student to
succeed in the STEM field.
