Give girls a greenlight in STEM around the world!

As the weather turns colder here in Belgium and the lights look just that little bit brighter, it’s a moment where we feel a particular sense of wonder and reflection. Taking stock of all the transformative stories that have been exchanged this past year through our work reminds us of the words of Maya Angelou: Everybody is worth everything. We believe that there is power and importance in connecting to just one girl to change her future, and we listen to that story she shares every single time. We think of Austeja, our new g4g Project Manager who attended one of our first Brussels events as a high school student more than 10 years ago and got inspired to become a biologist because of the female role models that demonstrated she could. We think of that one young woman in Pittsburgh who looked around the university where we were hosting the event – a venue that embodied a circular economy – and whispered, I want to be a student here. And we think of the little girl in Mexico City who, just a few days ago, got a chance to create polymer worms with polymer chemists and see her own potential differently.

Everybody is worth everything. And we are grateful that you believe, as we do, in our mission to encourage more women and girls in the STEM subjects. There is an abundance of potential for the next generation to help our planet and people become more knowledgeable, resilient, and cooperative – and we can’t wait to continue being part of those next stories!

But before we get ahead of ourselves thinking about all that’s to come, we are excited to share more of our favourite stories from these past few months:

g4g STEM Exploratoria with the Avantor Foundation at KU Leuven, September 17

In this brand new g4g program, we invited students aged 15-18 to go on a secret mission to design an invention for the Lab of the Future! Inspired by the g4g STEM design process, girls worked together to solve mission possible challenges while exploring potential career paths for their future studies. Through hands-on STEM experiments, rapid ideation, and prototyping, girls developed inventions that took them to the far reaches of the universe and pitched them to a team of experts, with one team walking away with the grand prize for the most outstanding idea!

g4g Day London with AIG at the Science Museum, September 30

Our female STEM adventurers aged 14-21 immersed themselves in hands-on experiments, learning how to design and prototype using spaghetti and marshmallows, how to discover and mitigate risk through an interactive board game, and how to make alternative energy out of fruits and vegetables. In our World Café-inspired design challenge, we also explored future careers and how they link to invention and innovation. They also had a chance to connect directly with industry professionals throughout the day, and got a chance to explore the amazing museum!

g4g Day Pittsburgh with Covestro at Chatham University, October 11

Heading across the ocean to the US, on October 11 the g4g team travelled to Pittsburgh to engage 125 girls, 40 volunteers, and more than a dozen teachers in a day-long series of hands-on STEM experiments at g4g Day Pittsburgh with Covestro at Chatham University. Throughout the day, we explored and discovered biodiversity with aquaponics, sustainability with solar thermal design, chemistry with polymer worms, the science of baking bread outdoors, and more—all led by Covestro employees and Chatham University graduate students. Check out this amazing recap video to feel the energy coming through your screen!

Mission Possible Inspiration Session with Covestro, October 3

One week before the event, we invited girls in Pittsburgh to join our g4g Mission Possible Inspiration Session with Covestro. This interactive hour online gave girls the opportunity to learn from Covestro and g4g leaders, ask questions to help challenge their thinking, and draw out a prototype to a challenge around safely capturing water while camping. (Full disclosure: the middle school girls had FAR more inventive solutions to this challenge than the adults on the session and gave us all such hope for the future!)

g4g and AIG at the Manchester Science Festival, October 28

At our station, the g4g team and AIG volunteers challenged our young visitors to redesign and rethink the most unexpected elements of their lives and explore their inner inventor! Tickle hands, a dance house for homeless people, and a fluffy and floaty chair were just a few of the 250 inventive solutions our 3,351 young visitors came up with to tackle their everyday challenges.

g4g in the classroom: KIS, Seoul, and European School IV, Brussels, November 10-11

On November 10 and 11 we had back-to-back days of g4g in the classroom on 2 continents! At the European School IV in Brussels, g4g led 150 primary school kids through workshops on bath bombs, polymer worms, human DNA extraction, DIY robots, and lava lamps! At the same time, our Founder, Melissa Rancourt, led Elementary, Middle and HS classes at the Korea International School by sharing the g4g story, discussing engineering career paths, and engaging the students in design exercises to Design their Future.

g4g Broadcast: Science, you had me at Hello on Potential with AIG, November 29

As part of Giving Tuesday, it was our pleasure to host an episode of our broadcast all about maximizing and uncovering your potential. With the help of Laura, Chief Information Officer at AIG, Ana, an underwriting graduate on the Cyber Team with a passion for marine biology, and Ellie, AIG Cyber Underwriter, we had an amazing session full of inspiring stories, breakout sessions where students could ask career questions and advice, and activities designed to get students imagining their future career. A shoutout to the Channing School and Alexandra Park School in London that joined us!

g4g Day Mexico with Covestro, December 6-7

We were thrilled to partner with Covestro once again to bring our g4g Day to life in Mexico City! Hosted at the Covestro premises, we welcomed 120 girls aged 11-15 to join Covestro role models in a day of workshops, including polymer worms, slime, fruit batteries, and sustainable paper planes. One of our volunteers summarized it perfectly: “I want to do my bit to motivate and empower the new generation in STEM; we need to reduce the gender gap and with small actions we can achieve it little by little. Also being the mother of a girl, I would like that she and the girls of her generation have better development opportunities!” It is with the help of volunteers like this that we can make the difference in a girl’s life.

So, what transformative stories are we looking forward to sharing next?

Our growing g4g team will be in a number of places – both in person and online – as we welcome in the new year. Stay tuned to hear more about our upcoming events in Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and so many more to come!

And as always, thank you for sharing your generosity with us the past few months. All your donations contribute to the work we do around the world, where we remind girls every day that everybody is worth everything. Wishing you a magical moment to bring in the New Year!

All the best,

g4g team