By Pari P.
STEM Innovation Academy Highschool Grade 10 Student

Last Friday was a memorable day for the girls of STEMIA high school as we were privileged to meet with Tania Fir, Calgary’s Minister of Culture, Arts, and Women’s Empowerment. It was an exciting opportunity for the students to showcase their talents and achievements. During the meeting, Mrs. Fir  experienced first-hand the contributions that the girls of STEMIA make to fields of technology. From their innovative ideas to their skillful execution, the girls demonstrated their dedication and passion for the field of STEM.

Since girls are very underrepresented in technology fields and jobs in this field are the highest paid, it is important that the government acknowledges and invests in women in STEM programs. During this meeting, we informed Mrs. Fir about Technovation Girls, an esteemed program here at STEMIA where girls get the opportunity to create apps to solve problems women face in their community.

Additionally, we discussed the pivotal role girls play in the Sparkans robotics team and our goal to secure funding for an all-girls team to provide hands-on technical experience, following the disassembly of the Intimitrons (the only all-girls team in Alberta) during the pandemic. Furthermore, we talked about our objective to reclaim the Rocky’s regionals to make the event more accessible for Canadian teams as currently, teams have to travel to Victoria which is expensive and inaccessible to many Albertan teams.

Overall, this encounter was very meaningful to the students and staff of STEMIA, and this was a great opportunity to inform people about the achievements and struggles of girls in STEM.