CMED Student Madeline Palmer provided 20 young girls with something they rarely experience, a successful female role model who is encouraging their pursuit in STEM education on a personal level.

The Central Michigan University medical student co-founded a STEM based day camp for fourth and fifth grade girls in under-served areas of Detroit. Each girl was nominated by her teacher based on her interest in science, technology, engineering or mathematics.

Palmer was able to fund-raise enough money through corporate sponsorships and Kickstarter to send all of the girls to the camp for free, while providing food and transportation.

The camp provided a safe place for the girls to explore STEM fields. The camp was based around a hands-on learning approach. Enough mentors and resources allowed each girl to run her own experiment.

Campers had daily projects and one week long project, which they presented at the end of their stay to their family and friends. The camp also provided the girls with field trips to different areas around Detroit where STEM-based programs are implemented, as well as guest speakers who were all women in Detroit that pursued a STEM-based career.

So you spent the summer co-founding a STEM camp for girls in urban under-served areas. What inspired you to do this?

Three or four things that happened around the same time that allowed for this. I read a study from the University of Wisconsin that talked about differences in confidence and competency in third grade girls. On average girls are one-half as confident as boys are when pursuing science and mathematics. I have seen first hand discouragement of female colleagues. What struck me was the age group, just the discouragement faced as early as third grade for these girls. Right now (as a country), we’re facing a huge gender gap in the STEM field. We are unable to fill STEM jobs, and eventually, we’re going to need to fill these stem jobs. The reality is we don’t have enough men to fill these jobs on their own.

My co-founder started working at a company in Detroit, and she has a real heart for service. I was looking at an 8-week summer break, and I didn't know what I wanted to do. So we figured we wanted to help and excite young girls about STEM. We’re just building confidence in these girls to pursue it. We feel like sometimes people think that not many girls like (STEM), and I don’t think that's true. My beliefs were reinforced at camp. They wanted to get their hands dirty and learn more.

Why is this a needed avenue for young girls?

Detroit students have unique sub challenges, boys and girls. In the suburbs there are girls being discouraged from this field as well though. In under-served areas there's so many kids dealing with difficult home situations, there isn't any encouragement and enrichment because they may not have a safe place to explore this field freely. It wasn't about teaching them the subjects, I’m well aware that I’m not qualified to teach, but it was about an enrichment, opportunity and a safe place. We wanted them to understand they were not only safe literally but also among their peers as well. Even in a safe school setting boys are more likely to take on leadership roles within groups and that discourages a lot girls to speak up. STEM careers will drive innovation in the next few years, its a competitive game, there will be winners and losers, and I'm hoping females are on the winning side.

How are women represented in STEM fields as of now?

Really poorly, only 14 percent of the engineering workforce is made of girls. One of the mentors at the camp talked about less than five percent of computer engineers are females. How are more going to if they don't have moms and aunts in that position? People can only dream about what they know. They don't have the access to people who are doing these STEM careers. This is the reality of it. Females are really poorly represented. Encouraging confidence in school-aged girls is imperative. A woman named Barbara Oakley, spoke about how girls who do average at these courses don't stay in those courses because of the challenges they face. Engineering is the easiest example, but this gender gap stretches all throughout the STEM fields.

What kind of road block exist for women in the STEM fields?

The experience of every female will be different. I can only think of my own and general societal norms to come up with these conclusions. I think that barriers are subtle, but still problematic. For instance, walking down the toy aisle in the girls section. The toys are not as engaging. They don’t have female role models. When they do well in STEM, they are perceived as hard working while males who do well are perceived to have a natural tendency. I think even that language is damaging as well. One of the most upsetting examples in my own life, my close friend in high school is absolutely one of the best math minds I've ever known. She was in an advanced placement physics class getting 98 percent and 99 percent on her exams. She even performed really well on a nationwide physics exam. However, there was no one encouraging her, and she ended up going to Boston College with no engineering program. I wish her physics teacher would have encouraged her more. If we really want to close the gender gap, we need to tell girls like this what a talent they have. We grew up in a nice suburban town, and she still didn't get that benefit.

How did you make STEM based curriculum interesting for young girls?

I think STEM is inherently interesting for young girls and boys. I remember that feeling in science and math courses, and I saw it reflected in this camp. They’re chomping at the bit for knowledge. I don’t think we had to make anything interesting. It is interesting. Learning how the world works is an inherent desire. Trial and error and correcting your mistakes is really rewarding. Accomplishing something made these girls really exciting, and that a universal trait.

How important are STEM-based programs for these girls?

I think, for these girls specifically who show interest, it is extremely important. These girls who already have a love for these subjects, encouraging them and giving them the right opportunities is really important. One of our goals is long term mentorship. We’re hosting a holiday party in December because it's important to have someone to help them navigate through these situations. Without enrichment and encouragement in the system, there's nothing to show these girls will pursue STEM fields. We’re just attempting to be the change.