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American Heart Association hosts first annual STEM Goes Red event

Chesapeake Utilities Corporation is primary sponsor
April 4, 2019

Story Location:
1131 N Dupont Hwy
Dover, DE 19901
United States

The American Heart Association hosted its inaugural STEM Goes Red event March 19 at Dover Downs Hotel. The following day, March 20, the STEM Goes Red event hosted a luncheon, fashion show and silent auction. High school girls from all over the state were represented in the event. 

“Go Red has always been about empowering women,” said Event Chair Jennifer Cohan, secretary of the Delaware Department of Transportation. “STEM Goes Red aims to empower young girls to take charge of their health, of their passions, and of their future professions.”

With 11 companies sponsoring the event, including the primary sponsors Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, Schell Brothers and Delaware Solid Waste Authority, the young women were introduced to career opportunities by professionals from many different fields. The intention of this event is to inspire young women to see themselves in careers involving science, technology, engineering and math. 

“There are a lot of cool things here to get the girls excited and interested in careers in STEM,” Cohan said, “Schell Brothers has robotic sharks at their booth, the DSWA is discussing gene editing and DelDOT has drones.”

When asked about her initial thoughts and what she was hoping to learn, Cape Henlopen freshman Giselle Garcia said, “I was interested to see how people work with jobs. At first, I was so indecisive to come because I didn’t know the extent of the jobs, but now I am so amazed at how many jobs women can do. We can do jobs where we wear suits or be astronauts.” She went on to say that she hopes to become an architect to build beautiful houses, buildings and bridges. “I’m having so much fun here,” Garcia said. “My mentor was very experienced, and we are learning a lot about transportation engineering concept design and development.”

“Women make up over 50 percent of the workforce,” Cohan said, “but only about 24 percent of them are in the STEM workforce. We need more smart girls.” 

Other companies sponsoring the event were T. H. Easter Consulting, Century Engineering, ILC Dover, DTI, Department of State, Silicato Development, Wallace Montgomery and DelDOT. Topics discussed included guidance for students into STEM careers, cybersecurity, digital media marketing, and environmental and structural engineering. 

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