Gender Equity in STEM Club takes on MIT

On January 8th, the Gender Equity in STEM club at GHS had the opportunity to take a field trip to Cambridge, and explore the MIT Museum. 

The club has been at GHS for 4 years, and their field trips and meetings often focus on women in STEM fields. In the past they have visited the New England Aquarium and Harvard University. 

Upon arrival, the students got to explore classrooms within the museum and participate in a lab activity. They were tasked with building a surface from a 3-D pen that either repelled or attracted water in order to create a more efficient raincoat or plant covering. 

The lab also focused on teamwork by assigning students different roles, including stitching designs, recording data, building the surfaces, managing lighting, and photographing the results 

Students then used an app to replicate high speed photography in order to take images of the water as it hit their makeshift surfaces. 

“I never really thought about how we could use high speed photography in a physics sense,” junior Jessica Harvey said. “Getting to do the experiment really showed me how it can revolutionize the way we use technology.” 

Harvey has been a part of the club for 3 years, accompanying the group on a variety of field trips to places such as Salem State University to learn about geological sciences, and Applied Materials for insight into engineering. 

After the lab, students were free to explore the museum, with interactive displays including lighting, physics, genes, and more. One of the rooms, which featured AI, allowed students to generate poems using the technology. 

“I liked the AI exhibit because it was showing what AI is like currently instead of how it will be in the future,“ Sophomore Lilly Whaley said. “It represents the new things that are emerging in the workforce.” 

The club will be having a meeting during homeroom on January 22nd to plan future trips and find guest speakers to further explore different STEM careers.