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4 | December 12, 2019 | The wilmette beacon NEWS
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Posted to WilmetteBeaconDaily.com 2 days ago
STEM participation at Regina
Dominican shows continued growth
Eric DeGrechie, Editor
Regina Dominican junior Leia Spaniak, of Northbrook,
prepares to test the weight-bearing ability of the bridge
she built in her honors physics class at the Wilmette
high school. Photo submitted
Though numerous studies
indicate a large gap between
the number of males
versus females graduating
college with a STEM degree,
Wilmette’s Regina
Dominican is bucking that
national trend.
While a recent study
done by Microsoft, specifically,
found only 6.7
percent of women getting
degrees in science, technology,
engineering and
math, 46 percent of Regina’s
Class of 2019 chose
to pursue STEM in college
according to Della Burns,
vice president of marketing
for the school. She
added that number was an
increase over 41 percent in
2018 at the all-girl school.
“I’ve always been interested
in STEM. It started
out with watching space
shows on the Science
Channel,” said junior Leia
Spaniak, of Northbrook. “I
didn’t know coming here
that I wanted to do STEM,
but doing programs outside
of school got me focused
on a career path in
STEM at Regina.”
Teacher Sandra Loder
created an introductory
engineering class at Regina
three years ago. She’s
witnessed first-hand the
continued growth and enthusiasm
for the program.
“It gives the girls a
chance to understand what
engineers do, that it’s a
very creative field,” said
Loder, who also teaches
honors precalculus and AP
calculus. “[They learn] engineers
are problem-solvers
and making the world
better for people.”
Loder said that there
was interest in engineering
right away when it was
introduced. Though the
creation of an engineering
club didn’t work out, students
began signing up for
classes and word of mouth
spread. There have been
discussions to include a
second semester of engineering.
Regina currently has
a prescribed curriculum
of three years of science
which must include a year
of life science, a year of
physical science and a
year of choosing for the
students. According to
Heidi Eichler, who teaches
freshman biology, AP biology
and anatomy, the vast
majority of students do at
least four years and often
more.
“We’ve had students
graduate with 12 and 13
science credits. A lot of our
junior and senior offerings
are in elective courses, so
they can mix and match to
put different things together,”
Eichler said. “We’ve
had a lot of students go far
beyond the graduation requirement.”
Many upperclassmen
like Bella Reyes, of Chicago,
double up with STEM
majors. The Chicago senior
is studying anatomy
and AP biology. In addition,
she recently crafted
more than 500 math equations
to create a fun Halloween
graphic.
“Math has always been
a little hobby of mine. I’ve
always loved doing it,”
Reyes said. “During elementary
school when we
were learning basic math,
he would teach me algebra.”
Inspired by “The Nightmare
Before Christmas,”
she wanted to create a
scene from the movie using
math. Next thing she
knew, Reyes had computed
out more than 500
equations to make it a reality.
“That was a really fun
project. It was time-consuming
but I enjoyed the
time I used,” said Reyes,
who is leaning toward
pursuing the medical field
when she enters college
next fall.
Spaniak recently hooked
up with NASA and the International
Space Station.
Please see STEM, 8