We are the STEMinists, a group of girls from Irvine High who aim to generate more participation in STEM fields by promoting the involvement of underrepresented populations in STEM areas and breaking the myth that STEM pathways are difficult and unattainable.
project need
According to a 2021 report by Pew Research Center, only 9% of all STEM workers are African American, 8% are Hispanic, and 13% are Asian, compared to a 67% white population that make up the STEM workforce. We want to do this by creating a program in which we connect students and schools with industry members and college students (especially those who graduated from our school district), particularly who are part of the underrepresented groups as well as current college students. We would like our campaign to lessen intimidating misconceptions about STEM by establishing familiarity through relatability.
Meetings
The STEMinists meet once a month, supervised by Mr. Donaldson. We also conduct lunch meetings, or after school meetings via Zoom or in-person at our local library. During these meetings, our project managers create agendas and assign the team individual tasks that need to be finished before a certain deadline.
Collaboration
Collaboration was a key factor in turning our projects and ideas into reality. The team practiced strong communication and teamwork skills to research & brainstorm projects and plan out supplies. Strong collaboration skills also allowed us to effectively communicate with the elementary schools' PTAs to establish rapport and schedule timings for our events.
While some of our members work on outreach and getting connections, others work on social media, and some work on finding or creating activities for our events. Our social media and graphic designers create recap posts for our events to increase awareness. We also piloted an initiative to highlight women in STEM through our social media.
team events/evidence
We had a total of 2 in-person events and expanded our social media. Cadence Park Girl Scout STEM night and Campout were our two in-person events.
Our first STEM Night was a hands-on event where we introduced the Cadence Park Girl Scout troops to exciting science concepts through fun experiments. One of the highlights was making “elephant toothpaste,” a reaction that quickly produced a large amount of foam. We also built popsicle stick catapults, which helped teach basic engineering and physics principles like force, tension, and motion. By adjusting how they built their catapults, the children could see how design impacts how far and how
accurately an object travels, encouraging problem-solving and creativity.
Our second event, the Campout, focused on making lava lamps, which introduced campers to concepts in density and chemical interactions. The lava lamp worked by combining oil, water, food coloring, and an effervescent tablet. This activity helped kids understand how substances interact based on their properties, while also making science visually engaging and memorable. It also gave the participants a chance to experiment with mixing colors, helping them see how combining different dyes can create new shades!
STEMinists Newsletter Cover
NEWSLETTER
This year, the Irvine STEMinists published our newsletter to highlight modern-day STEMinists and the latest updates in STEM world. Through this project, we aim to talk about what mass media commonly ignores, providing insight into the daily impact of women in STEM. So far we have highlighted inspiring role models such as Amanda Nguyen---reflecting on her journey through hardships and proving that not everyone's path is linear. We aim to continue this newsletter in future years and broaden its audience to have a greater impact.
In 2026, the STEMinists expanded both our outreach and our community engagement in meaningful ways. Through events such as STEM Night and our campout, we were able to provide hands-on STEM experiences including elephant toothpaste, popsicle stick catapults, and lava lamps, allowing students to explore chemistry and physics in an interactive and engaging way. We especially enjoyed the campout, as it created a more immersive environment where students could learn while also building stronger connections with our team!
Within our school community, we also expanded our presence through the club fair, where we connected with new students and grew our membership. This year, we saw an increase in members interested in healthcare-related fields, which helped diversify our team beyond engineering and brought in new perspectives from students pursuing biology and health sciences. Overall, these changes allowed us to broaden both the impact and inclusivity of our club, and we hope to continue strengthening these connections and expanding our reach in the years ahead.
In the short-term, we hope to see more students of underrepresented backgrounds take up the STEM elective pathways we have at our school (Project Lead the Way, computer science, web design) and join STEM extracurriculars such as StellarXplorers and First Robotics.
In the long term, our goal is to spark genuine interest in STEM at an earlier age and help students see it as something they can belong in. Many of us found our own paths into STEM later than we would have liked, and we wish we had been exposed sooner to the kinds of opportunities that actually exist. Because of that, we hope our events serve as an early introduction that encourages younger students to explore STEM with curiosity and confidence. Across all of our projects, we aim to help students grow not just in technical understanding, but also in confidence, perseverance, and problem-solving. These are skills that are essential in STEM, but they also carry over into any career path and into everyday life!
This year, we continued building on what we learned in previous years while also trying new approaches to expand our impact. One of our biggest changes was reaching a new audience by working with Girl Scout troops, which marked the first time we organized a dedicated workshop series with a specific group. This allowed us to build stronger connections and create more structured, engaging activities tailored to the same participants over time. We especially enjoyed our Campout event also with Cadence Park, where we were able to combine hands-on STEM learning with a more relaxed, interactive environment, making the experience both educational and memorable for everyone involved. Looking ahead, next year’s team plans to reconnect with the Girl Scout troops to continue strengthening that relationship and build on the foundation we created. We also hope to reach out to local non-profits next year and expand out influence and imapact. By maintaining these partnerships and continuing to expand the types of events we host, we hope to create an even more meaningful and lasting impact.
Our mission as Irvine STEMinists, at Irvine High School, is to partner with local elementary schools and youth organizations to spark early interest in STEM. We create and lead hands-on activities that introduce a variety of STEM topics in an engaging and accessible way for children of all ages. We also work in our school to educate our peers on different STEM concepts and pathways after graduation. By actively working with younger students, we hope to encourage curiosity, build confidence for their future, and promote greater diversity in STEM related fields!
