"We are STEM Day" held Friday at Washington State Community College exposes students to non-traditional science careers and gives them a glimpse into what their future could hold.
Nicholas Arnold, assistant director of Southeast Regional Tech Prep at WSCC says STEM focuses on those career fields where one gender is less represented than another.
Females typically comprise less than 25 percent of students in that field, he says, so the program shows them different study paths; including criminal justice and engineering for girls, nursing and respiratory therapy for boys.
"We are STEM is an annual event for 10th graders in Washington, Morgan and Meigs counties who are interested in careers in STEM, which is science, technology, engineering and math, and also the medical fields," Arnold says.
He says students who enroll in the program are put through four different sessions with professors in small groups so they can get hands-on experience in the college setting.
It also provides information to help them decide if they want to pursue a career in the sciences.