Our Champions are the volunteer, teachers, parents, community leaders, STEM/Skilled Trades professionals, and senior participants that make STEMforGIRLS such an effective program.
Champions empower participants by providing information, coordinating activities, supporting participants, and instilling the self-confidence to pursue a career in STEM or the Skilled Trades. These STEMforGIRLS leaders build a sense of community by creating connections between individual participants and by connecting participants with female professionals working in STEM and in the Skilled Trades.
Champions receive training and professional development, including sessions on how girls learn, how to deal with unconscious bias and how to increase virtual engagement. While WRDC coordinators will provide ongoing support, Champions will also develop a peer network in their own section of the STEMforGIRLS “digital clubhouse” where these key volunteers can share their experiences, troubleshoot concerns, and support each other.
There are three ways to be a STEMforGIRLS Champion: Role Models, Chapter Coordinators, and Junior Leaders.
Role Models
Role models are female or gender-diverse professionals with experience working in STEM or Skilled Trades.
As a Role Model, you get to decide how much you want to participate but all Role Models start by creating an engaging personal profile that highlights you and your work. (If that kind of writing intimidates you, we can help!)
Chapter Coordinators
Chapter Coordinators are our local leaders who facilitate monthly programming, recruit club members, and chaperone in-person events. The coordinator may be a teacher, parent, or a community leader.
Coordinators for online-only chapters actively connect girls who are geographically isolated.
Junior Leaders
STEMforGIRLS Junior Leaders are senior club members or post-secondary students enrolled in STEM programs who add an additional layer of connection in each community chapter.
General Volunteers
What if I don’t work in STEM or the Skilled Trades? Can I still volunteer?
STEMforGIRLS depends on the support of all kinds of volunteers and we would love to have your help online or in person. Tell us about your interests and skills and we’ll find a way for you to apply them in our program.
Sponsors
The success of the STEMforGIRLS programs depends on the generous support of industry sponsors.
As a sponsor, your financial support, employer-supported volunteerism and in-kind donations, will ensure the continuity of the STEMforGIRLS programs that engage girls in hands-on interactive learning activities, provide opportunities to hear from female role models, and instill the confidence required to make informed career choices.
Girls Supporting Girls
STEMforGIRLS Programs are provided free of charge because we value diversity and inclusion of ideas and people. To increase our accessibility, families with the means to do so can offset the cost of their daughter’s membership and expand our reach to more girls across this province. A small monthly contribution of $30 directly sponsors an additional girl’s STEMforGIRLS Club membership, ensuring she has access to materials to learn about STEM careers.
