Today is the annual day to celebrate the importance of women and girls in Science. Despite an increased awareness of gender equality and the value of Science in society, the gender gap in STEM fields such as Mathematics, Science and Engineering is still significant. On average, women are granted lower value research grants than male colleagues and they still have shorter and less well paid careers! In terms of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals mapped out by the United Nations, the fifth goal is to: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”.

Three empowered young women at our College who are passionate about the role of women in Science and STEM fields are our three STEM leaders for 2022. Congratulations to Lakmi Dabare, Rachel Hoppe and Olivia Tubb for undertaking these positions and helping to encourage and nurture our younger students’ love of STEM. Today our leaders had the chance to meet others and facilitated some fun in the Science Labs with the Science staff for all to enjoy.

We are very happy to report that the Class of 2021 have embraced STEM pursuits in their studies beyond Kilbreda with the following first round offers made:
Natural and Physical Sciences: 12%
Information Technology: 4%
Engineering: 7%
Environmental Science: 1%
Architecture and Building: 3%

This represents approximately one quarter of the graduating class entering a directly STEM-related field. So many more students have entered related fields (Medical or Health Sciences – 25%) that incorporate applications of STEM studies.