On May 31, students and teachers from Canadian International School Beijing (CISB), Dulwich College, and Keystone Academy gathered to celebrate the completion of a WEC flagship program, Girls in STEMM (GIS) for the 2022/23 academic year.
Charlotte Smith, Program Director at WEC, dialed in from Washington, D.C. to open the ceremony. She shared how her international experiences shaped her to have a global mindset and become an avid listener, a skill she considers to be one of her superpowers. Listening allows you to understand different people’s values, wants and needs, and collaborate with others to make ideas happen and make an impact. This marked the beginning of her journey with establishing GIS as a program that can help shape the futures of young girls in China. She closed with an inspiring message. “As you go on towards future stages of your life, I encourage you to continue to learn and to listen, and to discover your superpowers along the way!”
Su Cheng Harris-Simpson, Founder and President of WEC, expressed her appreciation for the great work that the WEC GIS team, led by Charlotte Smith and Nataliia Vladyka, has accomplished this year despite all the challenges presented by COVID-19, and congratulate the girls for their active and thoughtful participation throughout the year.
The group then welcomed a global keynote speaker, Marcia Matos, APAC Clinical Operations Hub Director at Servier. Marcia shared her journey with navigating different barriers for women in STEMM research. She emphasized the importance of being open-minded and adaptable, as she eventually found her way to clinical research, even though this was not where she imagined she would end up when she first embarked on her career.
Poh-Yian Koh, VP of Operations at FedEx China and our local keynote speaker, echoed a similar message. She empowers girls to never take failures as setbacks. “All failures are temporary, and if you know how to learn from them, they count as successes too.” Moreover, Poh-Yian explained how we all internalize biases, which can influence our decision to pursue degrees and careers that are considered more suited for women. She hopes that programs like GIS will help inspire young girls to break out of those societal molds and enter fields and industries that have been historically male-dominated. By exposing the girls to female role models in STEMM, they will see that women can do anything they set their minds to.
According to the girls themselves, this has been a major takeaway from the program. They all agree that the company visits boosted their self-confidence in pursuing a career in STEMM, thanks to the many women who paved the way before them. “Thanks to GIS, we now see many more open doors and possibilities for what a career can look like,” said one GIS participant.
The girls had a final opportunity to engage in lively discussions with female leaders through round-robin conversations with Poh-Yian Koh, VP of Operations at FedEx China, Wei Xiaohang, Director of R&D at HPE China, and Sara Zhang, Project Engineer at ConocoPhillips China. They also learned about many more STEMM role models across the world in a fun, competitive quiz.
The graduation concluded with the presentation of certificates to all participants, wrapping up a year of GIS full of excitement and learning for the girls. We all look forward to more potential unleashed in the next academic year of the Girls in STEMM program!
