Out of ten students, there is one female who sits in Normal West’s STEM Capstone class this school year.
Still, even as a female in a class full of males, senior Delilah Kozlovsky is months away from getting her STEM designation for graduation.
STEM Capstone is a project-heavy and hands-on class where students learn about real-world problems and create projects to help various causes. One particular example is creating water filters.
STEM Capstone also provides students who haven’t taken many science or engineering classes the chance to branch out their interest in STEM.
“It’s an opportunity for students with different skill sets to get together and apply what they have learned about STEM, while also exploring [what STEM careers do],” STEM Capstone teacher, Dave Weber, explained.
A big project for the STEM Capstone class this year is the redesign of the balcony, funded by the Beyond the Box grant Normal West received last year.
“I’ve always enjoyed learning about new things, how the world works, and I’ve always been a very hands-on person,” Kozlovsky, who plans on studying chemical engineering post-high school, said.
Since the course is a ‘senior-only class,’ there aren’t often many students registered.
With that, there haven’t been many female students in STEM Capstone.
For example, last year there were 14 students enrolled and the class ratio was 60/40–guys to girls.
“It [the disproportion] is not just a Normal West thing; it is a global issue that there’s a greater percentage of men going into STEM fields than females,” Weber commented.
“STEM, and especially the more Tech and Engineering heavy fields, have always been more of a male-dominated space and have always been geared as a male career,” Kozlovsky added.
“Early on, girls are often presented with this idea that STEM is for boys and not for girls, and those perceptions of themselves take shape early. Then, when [they] walk into a STEM class, and [they’re] the only one or [there are] few girls in [the class], then it kind of reinforces that perception,” Weber explained.
Despite Kozlovsky continuing to pursue a male-dominated field, being the only female student in STEM Capstone has come with a few challenges.
“It’s made it more of an awkward class because you can definitely tell that the guys are more buddy-buddy (…). Sometimes it feels like I’m breaking in on two guys hanging out,” Kozlovsky joked.
Careers like nursing and teaching tend to be more geared toward female students because of the stereotype of women being nurturing, gentle, etc.
While some believe that having women in STEM doesn’t matter or isn’t a big deal, Kozlovsky believes that having a diverse group allows different opinions on matters.
“Anytime you have one viewpoint, you don’t get as many ideas, but you’ll also lack viewpoints… [Having] multiple viewpoints from the start of any process [allows it to be] more accessible to people earlier on and [will result in a more] successful future,” Kozlovsky stated.
However, there are still ways to encourage women to pursue STEM, even if there aren’t many going into it now. Kozlovsky had been open to the science field since she was young because her dad is an engineer, resulting in her interest in science.
“I think talking about [STEM] and opening up STEM classes at younger ages, [could get girls more interested in STEM at a younger age],” Kozlovsky explained.
“STEM is for everyone, anyone can do [it] regardless of gender, religion, and race,” Weber added.
If a student enjoys problem-solving, STEM Capstone may be a good class for you, even if you haven’t taken many science or engineering classes.
“At the end of the day, every person is a problem solver. It’s what we as humans do, so every person naturally does what we do in [STEM Capstone],” Weber explained.
STEM Capstone is a class where students may be able to get experience in STEM to advance their skills or to learn new ones.
Both Weber and Kozlovsky encourage any female student to pursue science, even if the field is considered ‘male-dominated’ or ‘not a woman’s job.’
“I think you should just take [STEM Capstone] because who knows, you might encourage another kid younger than you to take it and it might help open up the space,” Kozlovsky encouraged.
“They say one of the first steps of solving a problem is knowing that there is a problem,” Weber stated.
While the lack of female representation in STEM fields may progress outside of Normal West, Weber emboldens any female student to take STEM Capstone if they have an interest in it.
If you are a female student interested in taking STEM Capstone, use Kozlovsky’s story as motivation.
