Let’s
Change the World—Girls+STEM=Success!
By
Cathy Coughlin Senior Executive Vice President and Global Marketing Officer, AT&T Inc.
I
feel energized, inspired and ready to tackle any challenge this morning. I’m
surrounded by hundreds of the most ambitious young women on the planet at the
2014 Girl Scout Convention in Salt Lake City.
I
was a Girl Scout myself growing up in St. Louis, so I know what it’s like to be
in these young ladies’ shoes. They’re here to discover new things, make new friends
and put their minds together to help solve problems. They’re here to prove how
“Girls Change the World,” the theme of this year’s convention.
I’m
proud to serve on the Girl Scouts Board of Directors, and I’m here today to
help guide a group of more than 100 girls working on projects to help solve
problems in education. Specifically, I’m talking with them about how they can
use their collective brain power to get more girls to pursue degrees and
careers in science, technology, engineering and math, the STEM fields.
For a
variety of reasons, many girls lose interest in STEM when they hit their
middle-school years. Is it peer pressure? Is it societal expectations? Are
teachers and parents not sending the right signals? Who knows? It could be a number
of things, but none of it makes any sense.
According
to Girl Scout research, three out of every four girls say they’re interested in
STEM. Why, then, isn’t that interest carrying over to their studies? Women hold
only one in every four computer and math degrees and even fewer engineering
degrees –one in every five! This is a problem.
We
only get to the best answers when we have diverse points of view at the
table. And, we need more women to
participate in STEM, one of the fastest-growing and best-paying parts of the
economy.
AT&T
is working with the Girl Scouts to get more girls in STEM, through our
signature education initiative, AT&T
Aspire. Our company and
our employees have invested our dollars in Girl Scout STEM programming and have
contributed thousands of volunteer hours to encourage girls to pursue their
interest in STEM.
The Girl
Scouts I’m speaking with today are going to take what they’ve learned back home
to their families, friends, schools and communities and spread the word that we
need more girls in STEM. They’re going to shine a light on this problem like
only they can.
They
can make a difference and so can you. Talk about this with the girls in your
life.
Discuss it with your friends and family. Share this video
across your networks. Help us make a difference.