The sound of excitement you would expect to hear during a girls slumber party filled the room at the annual Expanding Your Horizons Conference sponsored by ATK Space Systems at Mt. Ogden Middle School, but the chatter wasn't about boys or pop stars, it was about how much fun math and science can be
Just over 600 girls in grades 6 through 9 attended the conference aimed at getting young women excited about science and technical careers, where the majority of workers are men. The 29 different workshops included hands-on activities, giving the girls a taste of what working in those careers might be like.
"It is just a great opportunity to expose young women to math and science and enhance their interest," said LeAnn Dickerson, ATK Space Systems director of Human Resources and chair of this year's event. "It feels good to do something like this for young women and show them how much fun these careers can be."
The workshops included a variety of activities including launching rockets, making lip gloss, creating slimy goo, building beams to be load tested and working with animals as a veterinarian. Parents also attended a session called College 101, aimed at helping prepare them for getting their daughters ready for college.
The conference organizers and presenters where made up of women from Northern Utah who volunteer their time for this event. Many presenters and volunteers are ATK employees. Dickerson said it is wonderful to see these women come together for the community and for the future of these girls.
The girls in attendance represented 106 different schools from across Northern Utah, Wendover, Nevada and Idaho. The annual conference has become a sought-after activity, reaching maximum capacity several weeks before the event.
Following the opportunity to attend three different workshops and then eat the lunch provided, the girls were treated to a special keynote speaker. Jodi Saeland, Utah's Fox 13 meteorologist (shown in photo below center), spoke to the girls, explaining how she became a meteorologist and encouraging them to work toward becoming whatever they desire to be.
The Expanding Your Horizons Network is a national organization whose charge is to spark the interests of young women to pursue careers in the math and science fields. The goals of the Expanding Your Horizons program is to promote how math and science can be fun, provide opportunities for young women to meet and learn about careers from women working in math- and science-related fields and encourage young women to take full advantage of opportunities to gain the maximum amount of education in math and science before graduating from high school.
A special thank you goes out to those who helped organize the Expanding Your Horizons Conference, presented workshops and otherwise helped with the event. The success of this conference can be credited to these individuals for their extra effort and commitment to this program.
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