DroghedaGirls getbehind STEM
On 26th September, over 150 young women – first year students from local secondary schools – congregated in the Drogheda Grammar School for the second ‘STEM for girls’ event organised by Drogheda Soroptimists. The event was introduced by Ms Eleanor Cummins, Drogheda Soroptimist President, who stated that the workshop reflected the purpose of Soroptimism which is to encourage all women to take their rightful place in society.
Since, statistically speaking, girls are less likely to become involved in the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) they are excluded from some of the most exciting jobs in growth industries like pharmaceuticals, cyber security, food research and medical devices. To intervene in this negative cycle, Drogheda Soroptimists organised the “STEM for girls” event particularly for this cohort of students who will be making important subject choices over the next few months.
Four exceptionally qualified young women spoke to the girls and facilitated their workshop activities – Dr Nireeksha Karaode, from Teleflex who oversaw the science workshop; Louise Maher from MOR Digital, the technology workshop; Nathalie O’Hanrahan from Premier Periclase facilitated the engineering workshop and Mary O’Halloran from Mercer managed to make maths fun!
Drogheda Soroptimists Dr. Siobhan Matthews and Carmel Schmidt and their team organised the event and they would like to thank Drogheda Grammar School for the use of the school and all their help, all the schools who sent pupils and all the sponsors including SCF Processing, Oriel Silk Flowers, and the East Coast Bakery.
For further information on the Soroptimist International, Drogheda Club activities go to Soroptimist International - Drogheda on Facebook.