“We are breaking stereotypes with more women in the field,” said Erin Dillon, a sophomore at Bay View Academy. “We are all more than capable of taking on this career.”
Dillon, along with 11 other girls from Bay View, LaSalle Academy and Pilgrim High School, is enrolled in the Women in Technology (WIT) program run at Tyco’s research and development facility in Cranston.
The program reaches out to local high school girls to get them interested in STEM – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – careers by having them work on real engineering projects with Tyco staff. The 12 students meet every other Thursday from September until April, when they will have an end-of-program presentation at Bay View, displaying the projects they have worked on for eight months.
Although the WIT program has been run at the Tyco facility in Westminster, Mass., for several years, this is the first time Tyco in Cranston has implemented the program.
The students are working on actual Tyco projects, improving methods and processes with the use of different technologies.
Melissa Loureiro, manager of physics for Tyco as well as the modeling program manager for WIT, said all of the projects the students are working on will actually be implemented in the company. Already, the program has seen a lot of success, and Loureiro said Tyco hopes to expand it for the next school year.
“We are training the next generation of engineers,” said Sandra Lippka, principal mechanical engineer for Tyco and a program manager for WIT.
She explained that not only does Tyco often end up hiring interns, but that those employees they establish as mentors for the students develop leadership and time management skills.
Loureiro stressed that the program also focuses on empowerment and encouraging young girls to pursue careers in math and science despite the gender discrepancy in those fields.
“It’s important to have a diverse workforce,” she said. “Each gender brings a different way of looking at problems. Different perspectives and creative views from both sides of the fence bring about robust solutions.”
Many of the students in the WIT program had experienced the gender discrepancy themselves either through being the only girl in different STEM classes or not feeling supported in their interests for science and mathematics.
Pilgrim senior Nancy Alvarez said: “Many girls are age just aren’t encourage like boys are to enter into STEM fields. This program helps us explore those interests.”
Paige Noland, a sophomore at Bay View, said the gender difference in STEM fields comes from the historical stereotypes forced upon each gender.
“This is the remnants of that culture and we have to break through that and make a shift in proving ourselves in these fields,” she said. “ We are already seeing improvements.”
A senior at La Salle, Gianna Zackarian, took an engineering course last year and was put into a group with two males. Although her instructor recognized her good work, she said the boys in her group would often overlook her, not take her ideas into account, and underestimate her capabilities.
“Here I have the opportunity to voice my ideas. Overall, I see more teamwork and just a nicer environment. Boys my age just think they are better than everyone and won’t even give us a chance,” she said.
She argues though that female students were right on par, if not faring better in the class. Thanks to the WIT program, Zacakrian also has a leg up on her classmates when it comes to certain STEM concepts.
Emily Heon, a Pilgrim senior, believes there have already been improvements in the field, and that by encouraging girls at a younger age and supporting their interests in mathematics and science, they will have a head start.
“Here at Tyco, we want to drive that cultural shift,” Loureiro said. “You can see the spark in these girls’ eyes when they are working on the projects, they are good at what they do and enjoy it.”
Many of the young women said they were unsure of what to go into after graduation, but being able to see the different fields within engineering and the “day-to-day life” in this field, the majority now believe they want to enter into the career themselves. The students have also been working on time management, teamwork, and leadership skills through the WIT program, practicing interviews and resume building.
Noland said: “I had no idea what I wanted to do. This has exposed me to the field in a way a classroom couldn’t and I’m learning real life skills I could use moving forward.”
There are four students from LaSalle Academy – Gianna Zackarian, Courtney Caccia, Rose Keating, and Ciana Martino. The three seniors from Pilgrim are Emily Heon, Nancy Alvarez, and Jenny Navas. The Bay View Academy students are Erin Dillon, Sydney Ellis, Paige Noland, Rebekah Pendrak, and Samantha Proulx-Whitcomb.
Tyco’s mentors for the program include Bruce Mitchell, mechanical engineer supervisor; Hayden Hernandez, senior materials engineer; Matt Ancone, senior mechanical engineer; Kat Stavrianidis, mechanical engineer; Pepi Pena, mechanical engineer; Bob Heon, senior electrical engineer; Gind Munson, engineering project coordinator; as well as Lippka and Loureiro.
The final presentation will be held at Bay View Academy on Thursday, April 14 starting at 5 p.m.
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