Thoughts on High School STEM Classes: Shanice Martin

STEM fields are an ever growing field with the development of new technologies and resources. I believe these fields have a high demand in college educated students with certain specialty skills. I would love to see more minorities and/or people coming from lower socioeconomic statuses entering STEM fields. Which is why programs like STEP are so great because they help students pursue careers in these field. The fact women in STEM fields are often underrepresented and experience a smaller wage gap compared to men could be a little discouraging to many young girls. There should be more female high school teachers in these area encouraging girls to explore their options in STEM fields.

I personally was never interested in a career in STEM, with this being said I definitely enjoyed taking STEM classes in high school. Being a math minor shows how much I love math. It was my favorite student in school since elementary and I have enjoyed nearly every math class I took in high school. My favorite science class was actually chemistry while many people hated it. Doing the chemistry labs and learning how certain chemicals mixed so well with each other while others could actually cause damage was something I really enjoyed. Having someone breaking certain topics down, helped me to better understand chemistry, which allowed me to like it even more.


My advice to students taking STEM classes is that even though you may not understand the subject or a certain topic at first don’t give up. Just because something is confusing at first doesn’t mean you won’t like it. Some of life's greatest challenges bring the best rewards. Also, if you like something and your friends and peers don’t, don’t let that discourage or influence your decision in liking something different. Being different is actually is a good thing and you should never want to give up something you enjoy.