Junior empowers with new club

Maren DeMargel

Social Media Manager

Junior Janya Johnson is the founder of the Women in STEM Club. “STEM” stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“I just hope that more girls can get into this type of career field,” Johnson said.

According to the United States Census Bureau, women only make up 27% of the STEM workforce as of 2019.

Johnson collaborated with science teacher Jessie Michael-Lane to create the club.

“Women belong in all of the places where men are,” Michael-Lane said via email. “However, historically, we haven’t been allowed, especially in STEM fields.”

Michael-Lane has experienced gender bias within the STEM field, making the creation of this club close to her

“People usually sume am an elementary school teacher when I tell them what I do for a living,” Michael-Lane said via email. Michael-Lane stressed that while there is “absolutely nothing wrong” with that profession, it is an incorrect assumption and is therefore indicative of bias.

Michael-Lane said people often comment on her job saying, “Oh wow, chem istry is hard.”

“It is hard,” Michael-Lane agreed. “However, do we auto matically respond to men with, ‘Oh wow, being a lawyer is hard.’ Maybe we do, but it is something that always makes me think twice.”

“It is essential to our future that young women understand they are just as smart as young men. Women should be encouraged to be curious about the worlds around them, and we should support them excelling in STEM classes,” Michael-Lane said.

Johnson’s motivation for starting the club is due to her future career.

“I want to be an obstetrician/gynecologist (OB/GYN),” Johnson said. “I want to help pregnant people.”

The process to create the club was not easy, but Johnson was determined to make it a reality.

“I talked to Coach (Sean) Wright, and he thought it was a good idea, so he gave me a form for the signatures. I got all of the signatures, and then I lost the sheet, so I got the signatures again,” Johnson said. “Then I made a presentation, a STEM presentation, showing what the club was about and my goals. I presented it at student council, and they all voted for it. Ms. Michael-Lane, my sponsor, I talked to her to set up the club times and specified what works for us, and we started the club.”

Johnson and Michael-Lane both have high hopes for the impact of the club.

“I hope that more women and girls are motivated to go into these careers and not be hesitant because it’s more male dominated in these areas,” Johnson said.

“We hope to support young women in their interest and pursuit of STEM classes and careers. In the future, it would be awesome if we could even start working with kids in middle or elementary school to help ignite their interest,” MichaelLane said.

The club meets every other Thursday in room 382. Those interested in joining can reach out via the club’s Instagram account, @wghswomeninstem, speak to Johnson or Michael-Lane, or simply show up to a meeting.

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Jazz band, orchestra and concert band musicians will spend this spring break playing in the Big Apple.

Senior Maddie Wood said, “It’s (orchestra) given me a broader appreciation for different types of music, and I made a lot of connections, and I had a lot of different opportunities to do with an orchestra.”

This was a sentiment shared by others that also were going.

Senior Eli Suppelsa said, “Our orchestra is a very good community. We are all pretty good friends, and it’s a tight-knit group, and when I had this opportunity to go to New York, I thought it would be really fun, and a good way to get even closer within our group.”

Junior Miles Cole said, “ It’s always a super cool experience because there’s a lot of stuff that we can’t do in the Midwest, and New York is the place to be for jazz musicians, so it is cool to see what the scene looks like, and it’s always fun to have a school trip.”

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March is Youth Art Month representing how art is important for youth in their education.

Drama teacher Todd Schaefer believes having a fine arts credit benefits students.

“It builds a better human,” Schaefer said.

“Sixty-one percent of students with high arts involvement planning to get a degree and go to college, vs 42% with low arts involvement,” according to James S. Catterwall and Gillian HamptonThompton in “The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth (National Endowment for the Arts.)”

Webster Groves High School requires one fine arts credit to graduate; Schaefer thinks more could be beneficial.

“I don’t think one fine arts credit for ev-

Senior Maya Ensor mentioned other opportunities, “I also think it will be fun just to have a week in New York with just the jazz band. I think we have a jazz clinic on the first day. Then we have a performance with that, and then we are meeting up with some composer clinics and then another performance with that.”

Cole added, “I am looking forward to the master classes that we are going to be doing. I think we are doing a couple at Julliard so that would probably be the most beneficial. A professional musician will sit down with all of us and that musician will lead a class and give us information, and stuff like that. We can also ask questions.”

About why he played in the orchestra, Suppelsa added, “It has given me something to work towards. Like something to get better at I’d say. Because I play the violin and it is something you can always get better at, and I am not super competitive with it, and I enjoy playing it with my friends.”

However, others are trying to get good at their instruments so that it can influ- ence their choice of what they want to do in the future.

Cole said, “ Well, I want to go to college for music specifically in New York City, so I think going to New York City right now is going to be beneficial to my knowledge of what college might look like.”

While the trip is mostly for music, students are looking forward to some other activities.

Wood said, “We are going to see ‘Aladdin’ on Broadway and looking to play somewhere new.”

Suppelsa added, “To be honest I don’t know much about the trip, but I am excited to be in that Big Apple, and walk the streets of the city.”

However, the main goal for some was just being on the trip itself.

Suppelsa said, “I would say just try to have an open mind because I think traveling broadens your perspective no matter where it is. If it’s a state away, that’s good, and if it is in a different country, that is good too. I think traveling is all about opening your perspective.”