Last week I was fortunate to join the American Heart association at their STEM Goes Red event out at the Center - an awesome venue full of large rooms and giant windows for an inspiring setting for all of the students that attended the event. The morning started with a panel discussion with inspiring role models followed by a lunch with mentors at each table so all the ladies had a chance to speak 1 on 1 and practice soft skills with women role models that are excelling in STEM professions. After the lunch was my favorite part - the exploration rotations. The various stations all included some wonderful information and hands on experience in different fields like Medical, Motorsports, and Environmental sciences. The Medical station included a nursing simulation, stress test and a biochemistry gel analysis(SUPER COOL). A Motorsports station was outside with Fuel the Female Ambassador Katie Gundlach, the assistant race engineer for Chip Ganassi Racing, giving students an up close look at an Indycar and all of the responsibilities of a race engineer. A spread of laptops and experts in Cybersecurity gave students a hands-on activity showcasing how to manage your online footprint and dangers. Lift Academy was on site for an Aviation/Engineering station outside featuring a mobile virtual reality flight simulation that many students seemed to really enjoy. The Industrial Design station was really hands-on walking students through ‘mood boards’ into prototyping a bicycle light for a specific need. Students got to make individual decisions on their prototype and talk about manufacturing considerations and refinements. One of my personal favorite stations was the Environmental station where students learned about recycling, waste water and how to filter/check for contamination. Students also had the opportunity to interact with local universities ato learn more about how to best prepare for their future with universities like Marian University, University of Cincinnati, IUPUI, Ball State, Rose Hulman, Indiana Wesleyan University, Purdue and more!
I am so grateful to have been a part of such a wonderful program and am so excited for all of these ladies pursuing STEM professions. Here are just a few of my favorite moments from the event.