I am SUPER inspired by you as a young woman that is interested in entering a STEM field. I'm finishing up 10th grade this year and I was just curious about YOUR experience in high school and how you got through it and into a good universIty. Thank you! And con-grad-ulations!!
Okay yes women in STEM is such a powerful thing.
How did I get through it? I think it helped that I was such a dweeb in middle school.
(yes, really - this is from some time around 6th grade)
Something about knowing I was a nerd and was never going to be one of the “cool” kids helped immensely by taking off some of the pressure and letting me focus on being my little nerdy self (although now it’s apparently cool to be a nerd in middle school? who knew).
Fast forward three years to my first day of high school. Things were going swimmingly. I was happily enrolled in College Prep English I, College Prep World History, Algebra II, and a creative writing elective, oh and I looked adorable.
(first day of high school)
My first day was perfect. Until I got to my last class of the day. Being the nerd that I was, I had taken Biology (a 10th grade class) as an 8th grader, because being on a robotics team was apparently not extra enough for me. That made me eligible to take Chemistry as a freshman. So I ended my day in a class of 13 people, including myself and my teacher. Sparing you the traumatizing details, I will say that it was simply not the right class for me and I took my happy little nerdy butt on down to my counselor’s office to get me switched to a more appropriate class.
People made fun of me, and I was the youngest person in my new Chemistry class (had been in the other one too, come to think about it).
But you know what? It got me where I wanted to be. I made some friends, I took AP Chemistry as a sophomore (not necessarily something I would recommend, but whatever), and I learned that I actually really loved Chemistry.
(Chelsea, Mobeena, and me rocking PPE)
That then gave me the chance to take Physics sooner, to realize my passion for it sooner, to figure out what Aerospace engineering was sooner.
I was a nerd in high school, it’s as simple as that. I was in Dumbledore’s Army (Harry Potter club), BBC North (BBC fan club), I was in a two-year English program that encouraged and required creative writing side by side with literary analysis. And as cheesy as it sounds, that all started with me standing up for what I wanted on day one. My counselor thought it was weird that I was requesting a harder class on day one, my teacher was annoyed at having a freshman in his junior level class, some of the students made fun of me or were offended at how much younger than them I was.
But I made it. I stuck it out, I let them make fun of me, I accepted that I was always going to be a little nerdy, and little on the weird side, and it helped make it easier.
Maybe if I had been “cool” from the start I would have had it a little easier - I noticed some of my other friends did. But whatever, I made it didn’t I?
Moral of the story? Be true to who you are, whether that’s a total nerd or someone a bit cooler. Do what you think you should do, take the classes you want to take whenever you get the chance. Join the clubs and teams that excite you. Everything else will fall into place.
As far as getting into a good university, the best advice I can give is to first follow your major - don’t go to a school that doesn’t offer your passion just because you know more people there or it’s a family tradition or it sounds more prestigious. Second, make sure you feel at home and comfortable at the school you pick. If you aren’t happy outside of the classroom, you won’t be successful in it.
