Each week, “Pop Quiz” features an interview with a member of Greater Houston’s education community. To suggest someone we should interview with an interesting story to tell, email us at education@houstonlanding.org.
Meet the interviewee
Nakia Nwachukwu, a freshman at Alief ISD’s Kerr High School and daughter of a hospice nurse, hopes to follow her mother into the medical field as a doctor or pharmacologist.
“I really enjoy chemistry because there’s rules, but there are also so many variables that make it all more fun,” Nwachukwu said. “With the risk comes rewards.”
As soon as Nwachukwu entered high school, she joined the student group FEMS in STEM, a new school-sponsored club attempting to close the gender gap in the science, technology, engineering and math fields. Although the group is only a few months old, Nwachukwu is one of over 100 members, all of whom share the goal of bringing more women into STEM careers.
School districts in recent years have looked to STEM education to better prepare students for advanced, in-demand and usually lucrative careers. But even with concerted efforts to push all students towards STEM fields, female students are being left behind.
According to a 2023 Gallup poll of about 2,000 members of Gen Z, about 85 percent of males said they were interested in a STEM career, compared to 63 percent of females. The disparity extends to adulthood, with women making up 26 percent of the STEM workforce, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Since its inception, FEMS in STEM has taken field trips to sites like the Fort Bend Children’s Discovery Center and Houston Museum of Natural Science, and hosted educational opportunities across Alief. On Saturday, the group will co-host the STEMinist Summit, a networking mixer open to the public, at the Tracy Gee Community Center. For more information, click here.
The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Tell me about the mission of your student group, FEMS in STEM. How are you working to make STEM more accessible to young female students?
They basically want to make STEM opportunities more accessible for girls in our area and in our school. … I’ve gone on field trips with them. They’ve spoken at an event with (community group) AliefVotes as well. They’re sending a group of us to Science Bowl next month, where we’ll compete against other students in the region. So they’ve kind of made it easier to be able to participate in STEM activities and they’ve gotten more girls to not be afraid to join or embrace STEM activities.
Why do you think women, or some women, are afraid of getting involved in STEM activities?
I think they’re afraid of being seen as too nerdy or masculine. Even though STEM has no gender roles! It doesn’t have any limitations! It’s good that clubs like FEMS in STEM are there to encourage other girls and lead by example. … It feels really comfortable. …For example, we have an engineering club and an engineering class, and my friend has the engineering class for her advisory, and she’s told me she really does not like that class. Maybe it’s the teacher, but I think in general … the class is kind of male-centric. When you see their posts on Instagram, it’s mostly guys. So it’s kind of uncomfortable, and it’s a small club, so it’s not as easy for a girl to step in and become a part of it. It wouldn’t be much of a safe space for a girl.
What’s your favorite thing you’ve done with FEMS in STEM so far?
My friend and I volunteered at (the Girls in STEM Conference at) Taylor High School and we got to help the girls with their activities for the day. Their parents dropped them off, so it was just the young girls mingling together. It wasn’t like, “Oh, mom, can you help me?” They were very independent, and I was really happy to see that. The whole day they went around to different stations and there was a teacher teaching them and they had experiments. … It was really good to see young girls doing these kinds of activities because I wasn’t aware of these opportunities when I was young.
What’s something people may not know about the gender gap in STEM?
People tend to ignore it. Like, I feel like they know about it, but they dismiss it and they make it seem as if it’s insignificant. Especially guys, no shade. I’ve noticed that some guys in my school don’t really talk about FEMS in STEM the way they talk about other clubs. … I wish they would be more supportive. … Like, they’re not the reason why there’s that gap, but they’re not doing anything to help it either. But I also understand because it could be awkward to be like, “Oh my god, I love FEMS in STEM!” but to me that’s not awkward. That’s cool! That’s funny. I would vibe with that!
What are you looking forward to this coming school year?
I’m excited to see (the club) grow, because this is just the beginning. There’s like 100 members already, which is pretty good. Honestly, I would have thought that they had been set up because they kicked off strong and they’re still going strong. …I know a lot of people would think Fems in STEM could seem niche. But participation has been really good.
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