Today we’d like to introduce you to Sonia Dhingra, Anagha Gouru, and Sarah Luan.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Today, a mere 30% of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) professionals are women who, amongst other things, are responsible for coming up with the algorithms and prototypes that will solve humanity’s biggest problems. We decided that if we are going to try and change this huge workforce imbalance, we need to address the psychological senses of belonging and identity that are usually the make and break factors when it comes to girls deciding whether they will pursue STEAM programs and careers.
In order to build girls’ STEAM identities, we need to create positive STEAM memories. That’s why we decided to create the Girls Do STEAM journal in the summer of 2019. We thought that since we are high school students, we would be able to create something that young girls could engage with and enjoy. The journal went through many iterations and now has four sections: an introductory section with a STEAM word bank and an everyday STEAM graphic, 50 quick and fun STEAM activities, reflection pages, and a women in STEAM section featuring a wide variety of women in different fields. We first printed the journal in February 2020. Sonia and Sarah mostly worked on creating the journal together (Sonia wrote it and Sarah made most of the illustrations). Then Anagha became involved and is in charge of community outreach. We launched a 30-day kickstarter campaign to raise the funds to print the journal and create a business website. We then started building our community of women and girls with the common goal of engagement in STEAM. The community also consists of older girls and women in STEAM professions who want to encourage and support young girls in developing their STEAM mindsets. We spread the word about our project to local schools, libraries, Facebook groups, etc. We also donate 100% of our proceeds from the journal to after-school STEAM programming for underprivileged girls.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Our project has had many iterations. It all started with the idea of creating a fun journal for young girls ages prek-6 (in which we donate 100% off the proceeds) so that they could cultivate their STEM and STEAM mindsets before many of them lose interest when they feel they cannot connect. We had an obstacle, in the beginning, to raise money to produce the journals, but we formed a 30-day Kickstarter campaign online and eventually were able to achieve our goal. So far, our biggest challenge is spreading awareness about our project and community amidst the pandemic. Before the pandemic, we were able to go to events (ex. a Girl Scouts event) to promote our journal and also film videos together (we have created videos for talkSTEM’s YouTube channel).
We also were able to bring our journal to local bookstores. However, now that we’re all in a virtual world, it’s more difficult to share our work through in-person events. We were able to attend a webinar for Science in the City (hosted by the Dallas Morning News), where we were able to share one of our activities from our journal. Our founder, Sonia Dhingra, also led an Inspire Session at the Girl Up Virtual Leadership Summit in July 2020 (held by the United Nations). We hope to attend more virtual events like those. We also want to make our journal more accessible. Although the journal does cost $13.95 (and is purchased from our website), we have made it free to programs and nonprofits who want to share the journal with lower-income groups. Also, 100% of the proceeds from our journal go to after-school STEAM programming for underprivileged girls.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Our goal is to inspire girls and get to them more involved in the STEAM field at a young age. We want them to find relationships to STEAM in the world around them by showing how interconnected STEAM is with other fields – for example, art, design, and architecture. Activities from our Girls do STEAM journal help them to make these kinds of connections by encouraging them to explore the STEAM aspects of everyday objects or of their surroundings. We also create videos and sometimes have the opportunity to share activities at events/webinars so that we can expand this community and include more women role models that young girls can look up to.
What sets us apart from others is that we are all high school seniors (and started this project when we were juniors), so we are able to have a deeper understanding and connection to these young girls. Because all three of us have interests in STEAM, we have experienced what it’s like to navigate through the challenges of being women in our middle/high school lives. I also think our project is unique because we focus on connecting STEM and STEAM to all aspects of life (including music, sports, building, etc.) which people normally don’t associate together. But in reality, we show how that this relationship is displayed everywhere in the real world, and that’s what we want to emphasize to young girls.
How do you define success?
To us, success represents the ability to share what we’ve built with others and make a profound impact on those around us. It means becoming advocates for the issues we care about, which is gender equality and spreading love of everyday STEAM to young girls. We are three high school seniors in advanced math and science courses, but we’re also passionate about arts, music, and finding STEM and STEAM in the real world. As students with diverse interests, through Girls do STEAM, we’ve made it our priority to share this same love of STEAM we found with other young girls, which we have done through everyday STEAM.
To young girls, the idea of STEM and STEAM may seem daunting and perceived as sitting in front of a computer all day or spending time in a lab coat, but to us, it’s so much more than that. It’s finding STEAM in nature around us in the shapes of leaves, in cooking when finding the right amount of ingredients to make a pizza, or in sports when investigating the best way to shoot a basketball. We have met our definition of success with Girls do STEAM. The applications of STEAM in the world around us are endless, which is what we hope to show through our journal. Success to us means spreading our reach and growing our community, so more young girls learn about how they can connect to STEAM and have women in STEAM role models.
Pricing:
- Girls Do STEAM Journal – $13.95 + shipping
Contact Info:
- Email: girlsdosteam@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.girlsdosteam.com
- Instagram: @girlsdosteam
- Facebook: Girls Do STEAM
- Twitter: @girlsdosteam
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