How my research has impacted my future choices
Saanvi Y -
We live in a modern world, and having ambitions as a woman is no longer seen as taboo. In fact, there are people all over the world fighting for women to have ambitions and gain success. Growing up I never thought that I couldn’t do anything because I was a girl. Actually, being told I could do something despite being a girl planted a seed in my head that being a woman was detrimental to success. I’ve lived my life trying to succeed and break free of social restraints. I’ve been motivated to fight for myself and prove myself. However, after spending some time with these 6th graders, I have learned that fighting for myself isn’t enough. I saw many young girls completely uninterested in physics. Very few asked questions and very few raised their hands. When they were un-participative, they would draw, or talk, or mess around with their stationary. While they had better participation levels, they weren’t inspired or interested in the material overall. I saw this in their quiz scores. They took notes at a higher frequency yet didn’t grasp much, and never asked questions to clarify. They weren’t interacting with the material, answering questions, or participating in labs.
Looking back at this I realise they need some form of inspiration. They need someone to look to and realise that physics and biology and chemistry and all stem courses are truly amazing. Every woman in STEM we are raised to look up to is not a “modern” woman. They don’t even feel real sometimes because how far back we have to go to find these leaders. Rather than fight for myself, I have chosen to fight and succeed in engineering for these girls. Aerospace engineering, a discipline that is very physics heavy, is extremely important to flight, to space research, and to national defense. Such a pivotal field is only 11% women. I go into this field to study and become a leader so I can be someone tangible, someone these girls know and can relate to. Physics doesn’t have to be left for the men. I can do it and so can they. Now, I have an even greater motivation to study and achieve something.