STEM Like a Girl

Throughout my career at Boeing, the company’s commitment to encouraging girls and young women to pursue pathways in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) never wavered. In the early 2000s, women earned roughly half of all bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering, yet only about 16 percent of degrees in computer science and engineering. Fast forward to 2026, and while progress has been made—with women now earning about 24 percent of those degrees— it is clear that more work is needed.

If we’re serious about changing the trajectory for girls and young women in STEM, then “more of the same” won’t get us there. One area that can fundamentally change the long-term STEM landscape is increasing access for underserved children. Children from low-income, Black, Latino, and Indigenous backgrounds face significant structural barriers. Systemic issues like a lack of local programs, funding inequities, and fewer qualified educators create an opportunity gap that starts before kindergarten and persists through grade school.

Our sponsorship of Mission Science Workshop’s Girls in Science and Engineering After‑School Program brings this idea to life. By supporting a program that introduces hands‑on STEM learning to elementary grade girls in underserved communities, we’re helping ensure that every girl has the chance to explore her potential and see herself in STEM.

Learn More About MSW's Program:

Mission Science Workshop (MSW) provides hands-on STEM programs that encourage youth to become lifelong learners, explorers, builders and creators. Each year, MSW partners with over 100 public schools and community organizations in the Bay Area to provide science & engineering enrichment programs through field trips, after-school and summer programs, mobile programs, and free weekly community drop-in days. MSW reaches nearly 20,000 students and their families multiple times per year, and operates from 3 community spaces in San Francisco’s Mission, Excelsior, and Bayview districts.

During the fall of 2025, Mission Science Workshop launched its Girls in Science and Engineering After-School Program, made possible through a Red String Foundation grant. Designed for 3rd through 5th grade girls from San Francisco public elementary schools, the program was offered completely free of charge for six weeks and offered hands-on science experiences in a welcoming environment for young girls. The program served 21 girls from 4 different high-need San Francisco public elementary schools.

The program introduced students to a wide range of STEM activities that encouraged curiosity and confidence-building. The students learned about chemical reactions and made colorful bath bombs, learned to connect circuits and built motorized “Frogger” projects, learned to use woodshop tools to construct wooden art projects, collaborated together to tackle a hydropower design challenge and explored food science through making nitrogen ice cream and taste testing with miracle berries.

All participating students received personalized lab notebooks and lab name tags. Throughout the program, the girls recorded observations, tracked procedures, and reflected on their experiments like real scientists and engineers. These small but intentional tools helped to foster a sense of ownership, identity, and belonging within STEM spaces.

The impact of the program is already being felt. Since the program’s conclusion, many of the girls have been visiting MSW’s free drop-in days to continue working with the tools they learned to use and begin new projects. It has been wonderful to see them develop confidence and belonging within the workshop spaces, and feel comfortable, capable, and inspired.

Perhaps most exciting of all, many students have continued asking when the next Girls in Science program will take place. Their enthusiasm and eagerness to participate again speaks to the strong connections they formed with science, engineering, and hands-on learning throughout the program. Through this program, the girls were able to experiment, build, problem-solve, and see themselves as capable scientists, engineers, and creators.

(to be continued)

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