Girl Scouts of Maine and Maine EPSCoR partnership addresses low STEM engagement for girls

In 2012, a Girl Scouts study found that women account for only 20% of bachelor’s degrees conferred in computer science, physics, and engineering. In addition, only 25% of STEM positions are occupied by women. The Girl Scouts of Maine in partnership with Maine EPSCoR are working with girls to address this gender gap.

Maine Program Director and Regional Office Supervisor Samantha Lott Hale articulates that the Girl Scouts’ girl-initiated programming provides Maine youth with the opportunity to change the narrative about young girls’ futures in STEM fields. The National Girl Scouts organization has pledged to add 2.5 million girls to the STEM pipeline by 2025. The organization’s pledge promises to address the concern that girls as early as third grade are dismissing future STEM endeavors.

“Giving them the opportunity to explore something they didn’t even know they might have been interested in really helps develop that potential pipeline into careers in STEM because if they never even knew it existed or tried it out [they’re] really never going to enter that pipeline.”

Maine EPSCoR is helping the Girl Scouts provide opportunities that girls want and need to succeed in STEM. Main EPSCoR has co-hosted events, run workshops and participated in “camporees”. Girls Engineer Maine, a formerly Main EPSCoR funded program, has also worked with the Girl Scouts. This programming is suspected to have attributed to the growth in women earning engineering degrees at the University of Maine. Between 2010-2015, the University of Maine experienced a 9.2% increase in engineering earned by women.

Read the full story from Maine EPSCoR here.