‘The background of women in STEM is very, very short. If we can get more people involved, it will be amazing.’
Regina Williams was a senior at MC2 STEM High School during the 2021-2022 school year and was debating what field of study to pursue in college. She is thinking about psychology but through her years at MC2, she discovered she likes to build things and may pursue engineering.
Do you have a mentor?
I have two mentors, one is a lawyer and one is a teacher. They’re very helpful. So, they will help me with the college process. So I’ve been learning how to fill out financial aid, apply to colleges, do essays, preparation, stuff that will be very stressful during senior year.
What advice do you have for kids exploring the world and discovering what they’re interested in?
Don’t let your family pressure you into doing something that you know you aren’t going to do long-term or that you don’t know or like. Listen to your mother. You may think she doesn’t know anything, but she does know some things that are good for you.
Make a list of high schools that you’re looking at, and see what they have to offer, like sports or extracurriculars. At my school, we don’t really have extracurriculars like that. If you want to do that, you have to go to other schools. I knew I didn’t want to do things like, you know, football or basketball. So I was OK with it. But they have other things to offer you, like clubs and everything else you can join. Just know that, you know, make your list. Take the time. It takes weekends to get the work done. But the more you work, the better the outcome.
What does STEM mean to you?
At first, I did not know what it meant. My mom actually applied for a school. I was looking at other schools, but I went to [MC2] because I learned how to build robots. I’ve had opportunities to go on trips based on STEM. So I would say, me taking classes in STEM programs like engineering, it definitely opened my eyes to how little women have been in STEM, because the background of women in STEM is very, very short. And if we can really get more people into it, then that will be amazing. If psychology doesn’t work out I might look into going back into engineering because it’s actually fun working with building things. I’m not a person who likes to sit down and watch and listen to lectures. I like to do things hands on.
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