HOW IT GOT STARTED
Laney Tellegen's Gold Award
The STEM to Success Project is my Girl Scout Gold Award Project. As a woman and high school senior who is planning to pursue a career in science, I have seen first hand how intimidating this process can be. The college application process is difficult as is, and applying into STEM can add another layer of complexities with pre-recs, tests, and more. That, coupled with the undeniable fact that women, on average, have a harder time succeeding in these industries due to implicit sexism and unequal opportunities, led me to take action. This platform will serve as a resource for students to gather information about the college application process into STEM, as well as place to highlight STEM women role models from our community. Research has shown that when women in STEM have access to a strong role model, they are more likely to stick to their career path and succeed in it.
THE GOLD AWARD
The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can achieve. This award takes at least 100 hours at work and is focused on making sustainable change in the community.
Moving Forward
July 13, 2021
​
Throughout the past year, I've been working to create this platform for my Gold Award Project.
What is a Gold Award? Well, the Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can achieve. This award takes at least 100 hours at work and is focused on making sustainable change in the community. The Gold Award teaches the girl scout valuable skills regarding leadership, entrepreneurship, community building, organization, time management, and more. Ultimately, the Gold Award is an opportunity to foster growth in your community and growth within yourself.
I started this project because as a woman pursuing STEM in college, I felt intimidated by the sexism and gender disparities in STEM fields. I did not feel properly educated or supported in my high school life to apply into colleges for STEM fields or even what a career in STEM is really like, beyond the scientific concepts. My hope is that the information I gathered and presented on this site will continue inspire and uplift women or gender non-conforming students hoping to enter STEM fields.
This process came with its obstacles. For one, the COVID-19 Pandemic caused setbacks and resulted in me having to use different approaches to many of my ideas. When I began, I planned to host in-person events, post posters all around classrooms and common hotspots in town, but I ended up pivoting to a completely online format, hosting Zoom events and posting publicity on social media's such as Instagram and Facebook.
Throughout the project, despite its online format, I connected with many women in STEM, and listened and learned from their wisdom and experiences. Through the Women in STEM webinar, I heard how difficult it was to be a woman in medical school, and the biases they feel even in the professional world, as well as how COVID-19 has changed everything about their career. Through communicating with college women in STEM, I learned how professors can favor the male students, but how they are creating platforms or part of clubs focused on uplifting and supporting women, and that there are support systems in college for women in STEM. By interviewing college counselors, I learned how there is actually a slight advantage for women applying into STEM fields because of how male dominated the fields are, but that in no way speaks to how easy or difficult that process and/or future will be. I have learned all these things and more, and hopefully by exploring this website or our social medias, you can see where I am coming from. :)
I also learned a lot about myself. For one, I learned that I struggle in asking for help. My fear of bothering or annoying others was soon crushed by the overwhelming support I felt by the women in my community. I learned how important time management and professional courtesies are, and how to reach out to people to try to learn from their expertise, even if they seen intimidating. I ended up learning some more practical skills as well, such as web development and publicity content/strategies. As I grow older, I have no doubt I will look back at this time and come to recognize the countless other things I have learned and skills I have gained, and how they have helped me. I look forward to embarking on my new chapter as a college woman in STEM, armed with my new knowledge and understanding of what that means and what I can achieve. As I move forward to Tulane University, I hope this platform stays alive, and can act as a resource for other students like me.
In the 'Posts' section of this website, I have attached this reflection, as well as a PDF that has more information on how-to do a project similar to this one, focusing more on content creation. I encourage you to pursue passions and work to solve problems in your community, Girl Scout or not. <3
Laney Tellegen