Girls in Science Days
The Graduate Women in Physics & Astronomy GWIPA sociey hosts an annual Girls in Science Day for grade 10 girls from the greater Toronto area. After grade 10, students choose which science courses they will take in grades 11 and 12, and so this is a critical time for young women to see positive, female role models in STEM fields.
Activites for the attending students include building circuits, learning about non-Newtonian fluids, watching a chemistry demo, going on a tour of the world-reknowned McMaster LIVElab, listening to a keynote speaker, participating in math activities, solar observing, and seeing a planetarium show.
The Girls in Science Day event has been going strong for 3 years, with over 200 students attending over these years. We hope that these students come away from Girls in Science Day excited to take science and math courses in grades 11, 12 and beyond.
As president of GWIPA in 2014-15, I helped co-organize the event with the McMaster Physics & Astronomy outreach coordinator. In other years I volunteer regularly as both an organizer and a leader for the girls during the day.
