Amelia Haggard was too shy to talk about her future, but her father was not.
“She’s going to be an astronaut,” David Haggard boasted when she started kindergarten at the new Girls IN STEM Academy in Indianapolis.
Amelia, just 5 and already wearing a Girls IN STEM shirt, smiled and shyly buried her face in her shoulder. “She’s just really into science,” Haggard explained.
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Parents of the 65 girls enrolled in the girls’ primary school told similar stories at the Aug. 1 opening. Their daughters, too young to make serious career plans but with a passion for one or more STEM (science, technology, engineering or mathematics) elements, needed a school that could nurture those interests.
The school was created through a partnership between two highly successful charter school chains, the Paramount and Purdue Polytechnic schools, and the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana. The school aims to give girls a head start in traditionally male-dominated STEM fields.
Girls IN STEM, where IN refers to the postal code for Indiana, is one of the few schools in the country with such a focused mission. While STEM schools are growing nationwide, few enroll only girls. The U.S. Department of Education and the International Coalition of Girls Schools could identify only three other elementary schools for girls with a special STEM focus: Innova Girls Academy in New York, Rise STEM Academy for Girls in Kentucky and Solar Preparatory School for Girls in Texas.
According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the American Association of University Women, women make up only a third of the STEM workforce, and about the same number of women choose STEM subjects in college. Experts therefore see the need to encourage girls to pursue STEM early on. In addition, some experts believe that girls may do better in STEM in environments without boys.
A Gallup poll last year among Generation Z (ages 13 to 27) found that significantly more men than women (85% to 63%) were interested in STEM fields.
There are also racial disparities in STEM nationally, another barrier Girls IN STEM is breaking: 80% of students in the first year of high school are Black, Hispanic, and multiracial, with the remaining 20% of students being White.
The school is still small, only serving children from kindergarten through sixth grade. The plan is to add seventh and eighth graders in the next two years, growing to nearly 300 students.
Principal Chrystal Westerhaus said the school “symbolizes a new chapter in the pursuit of empowerment and opportunity for young women.”
“You may be aware of the alarming data about girls in this community,” she told parents at a school opening ceremony. “The data concerns you and the data concerns us. We know that our girls are limitless … Here is a network of support where girls can inspire each other, share ideas, lead unapologetically and build lasting relationships.”
In addition to the regular science classes offered by other Paramount charter schools, Girls IN STEM students also take an additional STEM class every other day, alternating with physical education, to provide more hands-on experiments and instruction.
“We want to make science fun,” said STEM teacher Renee Barlow.
STEM senior teacher Carolyn Caver said the lessons would be “very hands-on… They will touch and see every experiment and every section that they will do with us and have the chance to ask questions.”
These lessons will likely cover robotics, DNA, the absorbency of polymers used in diapers and other products, and the science behind the first flights.
Barlow and Caver have previously taught at other programs for girls, including the Girls STEM Institute, a summer program of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Students from the highly regarded Purdue Polytechnic High Schools will mentor the younger students. The high school hopes that Girls IN STEM students will become a catalyst and ultimately increase the presence of girls in these schools, and in colleges as well.
The Girl Scouts, which has been pushing for a STEM school for girls in Indianapolis for years, will bring students to STEM classes at the nearby camp. Girls IN STEM teachers will become troop leaders, and the school’s STEM classes will eventually be linked to Girl Scout badges in STEM subjects such as cybersecurity, robotics, engineering and coding, allowing students to earn badges while in class.
The school will also designate a character theme that the Girl Scouts will highlight each month. In August, it will be sisterhood. Entrepreneurship, leadership and service will follow soon.
Elizabeth Knight said her daughter Victoria, 9, is torn between chemistry and her current career interest of becoming a veterinarian, making the school worth the 30-minute bus ride from Plainfield, a suburb 15 miles to the west.
“Victoria is very interested in science,” Knight said. “She considers herself a scientist and loves doing experiments. And she’s also interested in the all-girl environment. She thinks it’s a better fit for her in terms of her ability to learn.”
While Girls IN STEM leaders have lofty goals, there’s still work to be done. The school has opened in a temporary location in a Hebrew school just north of town while the former Witherspoon Presbyterian Church is being converted into a permanent home. The school has faced delays in getting zoning approval for that location after opponents challenged the need for a charter school in the area. And there have been complaints that the Girl Scouts have traditionally underserved people of color.
These challenges make the school look different from other Paramount schools. Normally, the school walls would be covered with art prints as a way to teach students about art from many cultures. Because Paramount can’t drill hundreds of holes in the wall of a temporary home, that will have to wait until art and Girl Scout materials can be hung at the permanent school.
In addition, teachers still need to be trained as group leaders and in the Girl Scouts science curriculum. This will happen after school starts at the beginning of the school year.
As a former Girl Scout and her daughter is currently a Brownie, Knight said she was “thrilled” to see the school partnering with the Scouts.
“I would have chosen it even without Girl Scouts,” Knight said, “but it did add to the prestige of it.”
