#WomenInSTEM

When my kindergarten teacher asked my four-year-old self what I wanted to be when I grew up, I remember blurting out “doctor!” as many other kids my age would. I don’t necessarily remember why I chose that specific career. Perhaps it was because I was born prematurely, so from a young age, I understood the importance of modern medicine. Perhaps it was because I was plagued by recurring ear infections growing up, so much so that I had to get tubes three times and as such had many encounters with doctors. Either way, the idea kind of stuck. A few years later, going into middle school, I transferred from my small elementary school to an all-girls school in Bexley, Ohio. My seven years at Columbus School for Girls instilled in me the confidence I needed to believe that I was capable of pursuing something as rigorous as a career in medicine. Now, here I am many years later—a senior in college, a neuroscience major, and currently in the process of applying to medical school.

As my time at Kenyon is coming to an end, I’ve started to look back and wonder, what are the experiences my fellow female classmates in STEM have had? What are the experiences that my professors have had? Have they been similar to mine, or drastically different? What are their thoughts on being a woman in STEM? So I thought I’d ask them—what does being a woman in STEM mean to you? As such, I went around and asked 42 students and faculty to either complete the phrase #womeninstem____ or simply comment on their experiences so far. In the end, I received a wide array of responses, but as a whole, I hope that one or more responses can resonate with someone, and maybe even inspire them to consider a career in STEM. Here they are below: Check them out!

Thank you to all of the wonderful women in STEM who took the time to talk to me!

Image credits: Kalki Aseged

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• women in STEM