Startup Info:

In STEM, there is a large gender discrepancy in holding jobs, in college majors, and just interest in general. Women see STEM careers as a job for men and this is shown by the small numbers of women that go into those fields. Our cofounders saw this problem and decided to start introducing STEM to girls at a young age to show them they can do it. With the great help from the Illinois MakerLab, MakerGirl was able to start 3D printing sessions for these girls. At these sessions, the girls CAD and create a design from scratch on the computer that they then are able to 3D print and take home with them. This experience empowers these young girls to see what they can do and to see that STEM is fun!

The enthusiasm has made one pilot sessions grow to six sessions our next season. Then over the summer MakerGirl was able to reach hundreds of girls with our program in Champaign as well as a few girls in Southern Illinois as we had our first expansion. We are now continuing to hold sessions in hopes of reaching as many girls as possible. This journey has taken us to Chicago as well where we just had our first pilot session there. MakerGirl is continuing to expand and will hope to reach as many girls as we can in hopes of seeing more women in STEM in our future.