Students participate in a chemistry workshop at Operation Minerva Friday afternoon at Medicine Hat High School - Photo by Charles Lefebvre

By Charles Lefebvre

Operation Minerva

STEM careers for women highlighted at Operation Minerva

Jan 31, 2020 | 4:57 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Grade 9 students in southeastern Alberta spent Friday sparking their passion for science.

For the 28^th year, Praxis ran its annual Operation Minerva program, a full day conference that informs women about careers in science and technology available in the region.

“We just want to encourage them and show them that it’s okay to do science, it’s exciting, it’s interesting and keep pursuing it, t if that is what your passion is,” said Patty Rooks, senior scientific consultant with Praxis. “Make those choices that are valuable to you right now.”

In the morning, students were paired with mentors around Medicine Hat, learning about different career paths requiring science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

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Grade 9 student Evie Neubauer, for example, spent the morning working with a pharmacist at the hospital, while fellow participant Sadie Van Dyke toured the city’s power plant.

Both Neubauer and Van Dyke have a strong interest in science, and they said the morning opened their eyes to new career paths.

“It’s not just about pills and counting pills,” said Neubauer. “There’s so much more that goes into it, and science behind it to make sure you find a cure to prevent and treat certain things that you just don’t realize when you don’t know.”

“It was really different from what I expected,” said Van Dyke. “I’ve never been to a power plant before, so it was really cool seeing how everything worked, and how many things you need for everything to happen.”

In the afternoon, the students attended Medicine Hat High School to participate in hands-on workshops. They were able to perform chemistry experiments, learn about being a health inspector or pilot, and even got a crash course in forensics.

Rooks notes Operation Minerva comes at an important time in the participant’s lives. Multiple studies, including one from Microsoft in 2017, says girls begin to lose interest in science careers at the age of 15.

“They’re in Grade 9, so they’re at that juncture where they’re going to start choosing their high school careers and we want to show them some different careers that are here in the community,” said Rooks.

In Canada, women continue to be under-represented in STEM careers. A study from Statistics Canada in 2016 found only 23 per cent of women were working in science and technology fields.

It’s something Neubauer and Van Dyke are hoping to change.

“It’s important, because obviously the STEM industry is kind of male-dominated, and so to be able to get young girls interested in it early is important to try and diversify that,” said Van Dyke.

“There’s many empowering women out there,” said Neubauer. “Honestly, we can do it just as good as the men, and I think there’s many different roles women can play in science.”

Both Grade 9 students say after spending the day at the conference, they have a clearer path moving forward.

“It opened my view of things that could be opportunities for me to have as a job when I get older,” said Van Dyke.

“Right now, based on today, I’m looking into pharmacy,” said Neubauer.