By Nasheetah Hossain
The robotics team of Granada Hills Charter High School (GHC), Robodox, is constituted of ambitious, hard-working students. This year, its co-presidents are senior Jade Chen and junior Alison Wang, the first female co-president duo the team has ever experienced.
Robotics has always been a male-dominated field. According to iD Tech, women make up only 18% of undergraduates in the computer science field and a mere 3.1% specifically in the engineering field in collegiate level.
“From the past, women never got the opportunity to do such things. Men drove the industries and work force; and that is what went forward over time,” said Chen.
However, in GHC, the male-to-female ratio of students on the robotics team greatly challenges this statistic.
“On the GHC robotics team there is a forty-sixty percentage of girls and boys, and we are inching closer and closer to equality,” said Wang.
However, students are making significant changes and taking necessary leaps in attempts of making robotics a field which more girls are invested in.
“I was already in STEM, and so I decided to get into robotics. It’s getting a lot easier for girls to get into STEM, because a lot of people are encouraging girls to get into engineering and programming,” Chen said.
“Encouraging girls instead of scaring them about science fields, and telling them that it’s possible instead of saying that it’s too competitive or difficult against guys is a start,” added Wang.
For students on the robotics team, the strong bonds that are built bring about a sense of community and unity. Students dedicate a lot of time during school and during the weekends to this team.
“I love any experience I get from the team,” says Alison. “I enjoy learning from my mentors and team mates.”
The percentage of women in science- and technology-related fields has been increasing exponentially over the years. Girls should be encouraged to be brave and take initiative in competitive fields. Though the field is a male dominated one, it is a field just as difficult for men as it is for women. With more girls joining the science and the engineering fields in particular, we have hope for a better future and a more modern world.
The Plaid Press 