21st Annual “Girls Exploring Tomorrow’s TechnTechnology” in Downingtown
Over 500 girls, parents and educators from more than 160 schools and 6 counties participated in STEM-based immersive hands-on learning experiences and explored exciting career opportunities in STEM fields during the 21st annual Girls Exploring Tomorrow’s Technology (GETT) held April 30 at the Technical College High School Brandywine Campus in Downingtown, PA.
Girls Exploring Tomorrow’s Technology (GETT) is an opportunity for 5th – 10th grade girls to explore hands-on interactive activities to encourage them to discover new ways to connect their passions for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math and learn about STEM career opportunities. The annual event is presented by theChester County Economic Development Council (CCEDC) via its Innovative Technology Action Group (ITAG) initiative.
- Experiential activities were led by successful women in STEM—from more than 50 of the region’s top STEM-based companies and organizations—who interacted with the girls as they explored dynamic expo-style experience stations.
- Girls participated in more than 80 hands-on activities including video production, architectural design, robotics, coding, healthcare, engineering, video gaming, environmental science, virtual reality, aerospace, information technology, veterinary sciences, forensic sciences, automotive engineering and much more.
- Keynote Speakers shared their personal and professional pathways and insights to successful careers in STEM:
- Gillian Keating, I WISH Co-Founder
- Brittany Ward, weekend evening forecaster at WDVM 25 in Hagerstown, Maryland
- Hattie B. McCarter, Motivational Speaker and Owner of Tea with Hattie B Podcast
- Dr. Yasmine Daniels, “The Classy Chemist”
Keynote speaker bios: https://gettpa.org/speakers-gett-2022
Opening & Closing Ceremony Videos:https://gettpa.org/videos/
Over the past twenty years, the event has touched the lives of thousands of girls by nurturing their interest in STEM fields, providing a venue through which they could meet friends who share these interests, and introducing them to exceptional female professionals from some of the Philadelphia region’s top tech companies. According to Marianne Stack, ITAG’s Project Director, “One of the challenges ITAG has encountered is that the tech industry falls short with regard to diverse demographic inclusion within its workforce. GETT helps us address this challenge by inspiring girls to love STEM and empowering future tech leaders.” Patti VanCleave, VP Workforce Development at the CCEDC, says, “Our STEM Innovation Youth programs are designed to offer students the chance to explore career opportunities across all of our key industry sectors, helping to build and strengthen the pipeline of an informed, skilled workforce in our communities. The Girls Exploring Tomorrow’s Technology (GETT) event is a perfect example of this as it showcases the wide variety of STEM-based careers available today—showing girls that they can be anything!”
WHY IT MATTERS:
- According to the National Girls Collaborative Project, women make up half of the total U.S. college-educated workforce, but only 28% of the science and engineering workforce.
- Female scientists and engineers are concentrated in different occupations than men, with relatively low shares in engineering (15%) and computer and mathematical sciences (26%).
GETT 2022 Premier Sponsors included Bentley Systems Incorporated; Comcast; QVC; The Technical College High School Brandywine; The Vanguard Group; and West Pharmaceutical Services. Additional Innovator Sponsors included AGI, an Ansys Company; Cerner; CTDI; and Lockheed Martin. A list of Expo exhibitors is available at https://gettpa.org/sponsor.
BACKGROUND
Girls Exploring Tomorrow’s Technology (GETT) began in Chester County, Pennsylvania in 2001 as a response to the under-representation of young women in the computer and information technology fields. Since that time, GETT has expanded its geographical footprint to include students from all around Southeastern Pennsylvania and now showcases the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).https://steminnovationpa.org/gett/
GETT is an initiative of the Innovative Technology Action Group (ITAG), a program under the Chester County Economic Development Council, and is driven by the volunteer efforts of numerous public, private and educational organizations, along with public and private investments.
