I’ll admit it. I’m more than a bit of a nerd. I never competed in athletics in school, but from middle school to the end of high school, I was all about quiz bowl. I competed with the science team, and during my final two years, I even made captain. 

Every single year, I was the only girl on the team, but unlike my experience with the all-boy math team, I never felt excluded. I tried to join the math team during my freshman year of high school, but after two or three practices of being disregarded, I started to question my abilities. If I couldn’t answer a question immediately or was initially incorrect, my teammates would tease me or wouldn’t allow me to work out the problem for myself. I eventually stopped going. 

In retrospect, I imagine the coaches were central to my experience. The math team was coached by a man, and the science team was coached by a woman. The math coach was nice enough, and he never told me that I wasn’t good at math, but he didn’t recognize that I was being excluded and discouraged. At the same time, the science coach didn’t show me preferential treatment or shower me with praise. I suppose she just made me feel alright about loving science quiz bowl. For many years she was an important mentor who inspired confidence and hard work.

Unfortunately, female STEM mentors can be a rarity. Lack of female mentors is consistently cited as a major barrier to success for girls exploring STEM fields. According to a study by the American Association of University Women (AAUW),

“Exposing girls to successful female role models can help counter negative stereotypes in math and science, because girls see that people like them can be successful in these fields. Role models who describe their own experiences and challenges and how they overcame them can also help students see their struggles as a normal part of the learning process rather than as a signal of low ability.”

In honor of National Mentoring Month, Girls Inc. salutes female mentors everywhere but especially the wonderful women mentoring girls in our community. Thank you for inspiring girls to dream big and overcome obstacles!