Silly Putty to apps, teen girls get look into the future of careers in technology
Posted May 11, 2017 12:24 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Three Calgary post-secondary institutions opened their doors Wednesday, to give roughly 750 grade nine girls a glimpse into possible careers in technology.
The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Mount Royal University and the University of Calgary held its 18th Annual Explore I-T Conference, exploring the workforce opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math.
At SAIT there were 15 different activities for the girls to take part in, ranging from making Silly Putty in chemistry to developing their own phone app.
Grace Ma from the Calgary Girls School said it’s her most useful field trip yet.
“I want to go to university for engineering after high school.” Grace said, adding learning from university students and professors has been encouraging. “You get to get a more in-depth answer about something you’re interested in, which is awesome.” .
Mo Keshavjee is the co-chair of the event and said by giving girls the opportunities to try these different careers, they’re are able to get hands-on experience.
“They now have the interest and some knowledge so they want to continue and find a deeper understanding,” Keshavjee said.
He said one of his favourite parts is seeing getting to see prospective students work with his own university pupils in their own classrooms.
“That’s the entire point, we want them to go to high school and have fun, but when they go to post-secondary school, our hope is they will look at a career in technology, engineering or science.” he said, adding the program adapts to how global technology also progresses.
A survey is given at the end of conference and Keshavjee said around 80 per cent of the girls indicate they plan to follow a career path into one of the occupations they tried
