Inspiring Girls to Pursue Their Passions by Chris Eboch
Participants travel up a glacier during the Girls on Ice Alaska 2018 expedition. Photo courtesy of Aurora Roth.
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any young girls love science and the outdoors, but as they grow older, society discourages those pursuits. The Inspiring Girls program helps girls become women who “pursue their passions in science and outdoor activities.” Professional women —scientists, artists, and wilderness guides—mentor high school girls on two-week wilderness expeditions in Alaska, Washington State, Colorado, Canada, Switzerland, or central Asia. The program began in 2012 at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, with “Girls on Ice Alaska.” Aurora Roth found the program as a glaciology graduate student there. “Everything about it resonated,” she says. “It was field sciences, doing science outside, teaching in outdoor environments, glaciers. I’ve always
liked art, and it had art.” She volunteered as a “gear fairy,” transporting extra science gear and food. She also hiked in for a day to teach science communication. “Being a part of a group of women and girls learning and laughing together in the wilderness was magical,” says Aurora, now a Polar Field Engineer based in Socorro. “I felt this program would help me grow into the person I wanted to be by supporting young women.” She
became an instructor, teaching the science of glaciers and landscapes. Mylène Jacquemart, a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Colorado, Boulder, helped start Colorado’s “Girls on Rock” program. “Geosciences are often associated with a stereotypical image of people doing tough fieldwork in rough environments, which can be intimidating,” she says. “We want to show that anyone can do this work, and the backcountry is a really empowering place.” Advisors help students develop group research projects. “In schools, you’re often taught that science is linear: from question to hypothesis to answer,” Aurora says. “We try to convey that science is more of a merry-go-round process. It’s not simply a lab report following teacher instructions. We face factors like enchantment.coop • July 2020 13
