Women of Reform Judaism, AND of STEM

This week we are thrilled to announce and celebrate a second year of WRJ-funded scholarships for girls to attend the URJ 6 Points Sci-Tech Academy. Moreover, we are doubling last year’s $5,000 commitment to women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), providing $10,000 in scholarships for this summer. In honor of this important contribution, we will be featuring blogs this week on the importance of supporting and mentoring young women and girls in STEM. Read last year’s blog series. Today, a WRJ Staff member writes about leaving mathematics, only to find that her interest in STEM is reflected throughout WRJ.

After I graduated college, I decided that I wasn't going to pursue mathematics. I had spent four years obsessed with analysis and group theory, but after two summers of research and two national conferences, I wasn't sure it was the world for me. I wanted to do something more than sit in front of a chalkboard for days on end, to come up with a proof that would only have practical applications hundreds of years later, if I was lucky. Don't get me wrong—pure mathematics is an incredible field with many inspired individuals and teams; I just realized that I wanted to work for an organization that did good in the world, worked with people, and gave back to the community. Women of Reform Judaism was a great fit. Though I had attended a Reform congregation with an active sisterhood all my life, I had no idea the incredible, rich history of the organization. We were the first in so many ways—the first to support the creation of a youth organization (NFTY, now celebrating its 75th year!), the first to demand that women be ordained as rabbis, the first to welcome the LGBT community with open arms. These are things I care about, and WRJ cares about them, too, and makes it happen. Imagine my surprise when I learned, my first month on the job, that WRJ had invaluably supported the newest URJ camp: 6 Points Sci-Tech Academy. When girls were not enrolling in the program, WRJ encouraged them by providing $5,000 in scholarships. The program was a huge success: girls who otherwise would not have known about the camp or would not have had the money to attend could go and learn about science, technology, math, and engineering (STEM). They could meet other professionals, many of them other women, and form a community with other Jewish women who shared their interests. They could learn beyond their classrooms and Core curriculums (a good thing, since K-12 math rarely gets at the stuff that makes it so cool, so powerful, and so absolutely necessary). All I can say is that I was so, so proud of this place I had come to work. A few months in, I was able to finally meet our awesome president, Blair C. Marks. Did you know that she's an engineer, who works full-time for a Fortune 500 company? Immediately we hit it off, talking about how absolutely integral it is for young women to have women mentors in STEM. Young women need people who are like them, encouraging and inspiring them to push past the ignorant people who will tell them that girls just don't have the brains for science, or more importantly, help them endure through the culture that ranges from subtly unfriendly to violently hostile toward women who attempt to break the glass ceiling. Indeed, it has been shown again and again that it is easier to "lean in" if there is an outreached hand to pull you forward. Marks is not the only STEM woman I've met at WRJ. First Vice President Susan C. Bass studied algebra in college. At Fried Leadership Conference in Austin, TX I met a woman who studied math at MIT back when there were only 96 women in her class—let alone studying STEM. Another woman spoke to me about being a nurse around the same time, and how much technology has changed and revolutionized the field from which she had long ago retired. This week, we are celebrating the announcement of $10,000 in scholarships for girls to attend URJ 6 Points Sci-Tech Academy. I thought, when I accepted my job at WRJ, that I was leaving STEM behind. I wasn't. There are women who have broken barriers in STEM, past and present, all around me here at WRJ. And right now, they are reaching out their hands, ready to support the next generation.