The wise thing to do is join Warren’s “Women In Science and Engineering” club. After a quiet year of WISE, following its start in 2022, the club makes its triumphant return to the extracurricular activities here at Warren with two determined co-presidents, Anastasia Radovic and Venus Bearnod. The club’s sponsor and science teacher, Mr. Kreunen, looks forward for WISE to “allow like-minded students a chance to get together and explore their interests in Engineering. Beyond that, it is a social club that will draw in other students who may have never heard about engineering and encourage them to find out more about majors and jobs” (Kreunen).
With its general meetings, guest speakers, fun activities, and organized events, the club has many goals in store. These include creating a supportive environment for women in STEM, educating girls on their numerous opportunities in this field, and bringing light to the small percentage of women in STEM majors/professions. The acronym “STEM” stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. All of these fields have been stereotypically drawn to males, even from early experiences in high school. And ultimately, women make up about 21% of engineering majors and 19% in computer and informational science majors. More often than not, girls are not aware or familiarized with the broad scope of what STEM entails for current interests or future pursuits and professions. 
Going into high school, there are many opportunities for classes that entail STEM related experiences. Math and science classes are often ignored to take part in this, such as biology, chemistry, physics, and any other advanced math classes. Any interest in these classes makes for a great candidate for WISE. A popular freshman year course, specialized to the tech department, is “Introduction to Architecture and Engineering”. While some will continue their pursuit in engineering or architecture after this semester course, a lot of students will find their first and last impressions of STEM majors in this class, constraining their outlook on what STEM really entails. Other than architecture and engineering, the industrial tech department that is split across two campuses also includes computer technology, woodworking, digital design, and more. In each of these categories, there are layers of class options to narrow down what a student may be interested in pursuing.
The “Project Lead the Way” program is a nationally recognized 4-year course that is designed to give students a deeper understanding of the engineering profession. It is a major program in high schools’ industrial tech departments and is an honors class that has particularly small numbers of students being female. In many cases, girls will shy away from any of these courses because they are scared to find themselves to be the only females in their classes. This results in a portion of them dropping the class in years following or discovering the program a year into their high school career. 
In fact, two officers of this year’s WISE chapter are girls who joined the PLTW program their sophomore year after taking the “Introduction to Architecture and Engineering” class their freshman year. Mr. Kreunen describes his decision to partake in the club by stating, “Being an engineer has nothing to do with gender, so I feel it’s important to have a club that will raise awareness with students who may not consider engineering or know about what engineering is” (Kreunen).
As a message to women who are often discouraged or looked down to in professions and majors even other than those in STEM, organizations like WISE shoot to break down these stereotypes and inspire young girls to pursue things that are seen out of their comfort zone. Co-president and senior, Venus Bearnod states, “Being involved with WISE, I hope people are excited to see guest speakers and talk with younger kids on what women in the stem field can do for society today” (Bearnod).
The Women in Science and Engineering club at Warren creates a community for the smaller group of girls in the industrial tech department. It is also just an inclusive environment meant to educate and bring people together, whether or not they are an aspiring STEM major. The club is open to all and will include fun meetings filled with STEM-related activities, professional guest speakers, opportunities to educate younger grade school girls to be interested, and more.
Our first meeting was a huge success with our first-time sponsor describing it by saying, “I was impressed by all of our leaders’ energy and how all the members dove into the project challenge. As a teacher, we want to see students grow and the social energy is magical. We’ll have a lot of guest speakers to tell us about their stories and how they got interested in engineering. Thank you Kate, Venus, Anastasia, and Reese.” The next meeting will be second semester and include O’plaine students as well. Please consider joining the club and bringing a classmate, anyone interested in STEM, or even a friend interested in fun activities. Our Instagram “@wths_wise” would be a great place to look to keep in touch with any changes and updates.
