A group of middle school girls is disproving some common myths about females in STEM by continuing to take top honors in robotics competitions.
Marian Middle School, in the south St. Louis neighborhood of Tower Grove South, is the only all-girl school team competing in the Clavius Project Jamboree at SLUH. This past weekend they were returning to see if they could again receive top honors, just as they have every year they've competed. In fact, no other schools have received as many awards as Marian. Last year, the girls won the first-ever Janet Knobbe-Viox Judge's Award.
LISTEN to Debbie Monterrey's feature with Marian girls:
When asked if competing in a co-ed competition was intimidating, the Robotics team members present just laughed and said no. In fact, one member, Grace, has competed against her brother and his all-boy team. "We won, they didn't," she nonchalantly said.
Katie says she joined the team because she wanted to try something new, thinks it's a good hobby, and that it will help her in her future career as a navy doctor. In fact, going around the table, all the girls are very specific about their future plans: agricultural engineer, OB-GYN, architect, cardiologist, transplant surgeon.
The success of Marian's Robotics team, as well as the success of the student body in general, defies several societal stereotypes: that girls aren't good at math or science, especially girls from the inner-city. Marian Middle School's student body is 75% Black and 16% Hispanic, 89% qualify for free and reduced lunch.
Volunteer Mark Viox says Marian has very high expectations for their students, and the girls come into the classroom ready to learn.
"I think it has a lot to do with our academic program," Marian principal Sierhah Price says. "And naturally, being all girls we're rooting on each other, and there's kind of nothing to hide from. So it's just weaved into who we are."*(Results of this year's competition are not yet available as it takes awhile to tabulate the scores of hundreds of competitors through ten different challenges).
