College president in White House Panel on Girls in STEM

If you missed seeing Edmonds Community College President Dr. Jean Hernandez on the White Housepanel on Girls in STEM streaming live this morning you can watch the video here. 

Dr. Hernandez was on the panel with: NASA Astronaut, Dr. Cady Coleman, Facebook’s Director-Engineering, Jocelyn Goldfein; and the President of Howard University’s student Chapter of Engineers Without Borders, Bianca Bailey. 

Highlights from the panel, Dr. Hernandez:

• mentions our: Washington Aerospace Training and Research Center and the Cool Girls in Aerospace program; upcoming Expanding YourHorizons workshop, and aerospace, materials science, robotics, and pre-nursing programs. 

• in a discussion on the importance of mentoring, gives a shout out to our instructors: Mary Obrien, Chemistry; Rachel Wade, Physics; and Kay Latimer, Robotics. 

• encourages women to persist in math and science studies, “No one can take your dreams away from you. You have the right to have those dreams.” 

• advises girls to take as much math, chemistry, physics, and biology in high school as they can and points out that for women who didn’t it’s not too late — your community college can help. 

 • gives girls watching some homework — Ask family members if there are two or three relatives in STEM fields you can interview/job shadow.

 • suggests students look for colleges (like Edmonds Community College) that have good support and resources for women in STEM! 

Did you know? Edmonds Community College has received more than $3.5 million in grants from the National Science Foundation. 

 See more of the highlights and discussion on Twitter #GirlsinSTEM. 

At the event the White House showed its new video "Girls in STEM: A New Generation of Women in Science" featuring inventors at the White House Science Fair.