Folkestone Soroptimists joined in the celebrations to mark International Women’s Day (Tuesday 8 March 2016) by partnering with the Folkestone’s Creative Quarter and their Women of the World Festival (WoW!).
The club are grateful to the Quarterhouse for curating and hosting the Skirting Science event to encourage girls to think about careers which embrace the STEM subjects – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. It was attended by approximately 50 girls from local schools in years 9 and 10.
The day started with a keynote address from Ann-Marie Imafidon co-founder of Stemettes an organisation which inspires the next generation of females into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) fields by showing them the amazing women already in STEM via a series of panel events, hackathons, exhibitions, and mentoring schemes. (www.stemettes.org)
The girls then split into workshops which delivered by young women all working in their chosen field of STEM which areas such as Soil Sciences, Environmental Health, Physics, Clinical Psychology, Air Pollution. There was also a session on “alternative routes and overcoming obstacles and determination”.
At the end of the day staff accompanying the girls commented how worthwhile it had been and we were asked whether there would be a similar event next year!
Jan Doyle
Programme Action Officer SI Folkestone
Photo credits: Lou Johnson www.loujohnsonphoto.co.uk