UW-Eau Claire’s Women and Gender Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), or WiSTEM, is a growing campus organization that has been active since 2017.
According to the group’s Blugold Connect page, the club fosters “an empowering community for women and gender minorities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) … to help students grow and discuss how to close the gender gap.”
Grace Esselman, a second-year biology and chemistry student, is president of the club. She said the main goal of the organization is to create an open and welcoming area for women and gender minorities in STEM to gather and find community in what has historically been a male-dominated field.
Vice president and second-year biology and chemistry student Piper Ewald said the group hosts a variety of events every semester, each with the intent of building a welcoming atmosphere for students.
These events include activities like coloring, taking trips to the greenhouse in Phillips Hall and hosting seed-planting events around campus. Ewald said the next gathering the group has planned is a WiSTEM “mocktail and study” event, which is set to take place on Thursday, April 24.
Esselman said the meetings are currently bi-weekly. This semester, they take place every other Thursday in Phillips Hall 387.
“We try to keep it in the same place, same time, same day so new people can find us more easily,” Esselman said.
In addition to their regular campus events, Esselman said, the club hosts a biannual Girl Scout event for local Girl Scout troops.
During these events, according to Esselman and Ewald, Girl Scouts are invited to Phillips Hall to conduct experiments and learn about STEM fields. Volunteers from WiSTEM assist the Girl Scouts along the way.
“It’s really fun to interact with younger girls and inspire them to be in the STEM field,” Esselman said. “It’s amazing to see them learn about these things, especially as a college student where they kind of get to look up to you.”
At present, according to Esselman, the club has roughly 50 members on Blugold Connect, with a turnout of anywhere from 10 to 20 students depending on the event.
The only requirement for new members, Ewald said, is to be a STEM student, meaning their area of study falls into the realm of science, technology, engineering or mathematics.
Ewald and Esselman said they want to emphasize that the group welcomes psychology and nursing students, in addition to any other STEM majors that are not commonly associated with the acronym.
“I feel like people forget how broad STEM is,” Esselman said. “Our secretary is a psych major, and that is a science. We do try to stress that we are open to any woman or gender minority that is in any STEM field.”
Wojahn can be reached at [email protected].
