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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Okay, wait. Who's starting? Is it you, Liz?
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Christie Goodman, APR, Fellow PRSA (she/her): You're muted, Liz.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: I don't know, I was looking at your script, so I wasn't sure if that's where you're going or not.
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Lizdelia Pinon: As soon as you said, I'm gonna start recording, I lost all my screens.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Oh, okay.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Recall!
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Okay.
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Lizdelia Pinon: I'm so sorry.
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Christie Goodman, APR, Fellow PRSA (she/her): Count us off right.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Then again, and we'll edit that.
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Christie Goodman, APR, Fellow PRSA (she/her): Well, we've done our silence, it's okay that we talk to the left. That's no problem. So, I'll just go off-screen, and you can start, Liz, when you're ready.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Okay.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Welcome to the IDRA podcast, where we talk about equity, opportunity, and what it really takes to transform education systems. I'm Liz Pignone, and today I'm so honored to be joined by Dr. Garcia, also known as the SEM Queen, an incredible educator and advocate.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Today, we're going to take a deep dive into her recent piece on the state of women and girls in STEM, and what it really tells us about systems, access, and opportunity.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Doctora Garcia, I want to start with your why.
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Lizdelia Pinon: In your latest article, you reflect on writing about this issue back in 2019, and here we are, 7 years later, and you say, not much has changed. That really stayed with me. As a first-generation Latina STEM educator, you've seen this across time, so what keeps you committed to this work?
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Thank you so much, and I'm just so grateful to be here, too, with you, and to talk about, you know, the state of women and girls in STEM, and yeah, unfortunately, when I started writing about it in 2019, you know, 7 years later now, nothing…
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: has changed, enough, like it should have been, and, you know, the big thing that I think…
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: the big takeaway is it's not about ability, it's about systems, right? And my why, really, is to continue to drive this work forward, because talent is evenly distributed, but opportunity isn't.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And that's one of the things that I really want to change, and my why is really seeing students' lives transformed, seeing access for the first time to new opportunities, and a bright future. And so, that's definitely my why. And there's a lot of work to be done, so I'm grateful to be in community with others.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Who are also lying to this work, yeah.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Thank you for that. I like that. I like what you said. You said, you mentioned that
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Lizdelia Pinon: Sorry, Christy.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Let me go back. You mentioned that
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Lizdelia Pinon: You're lying, it was perfect, Dr. Garcia, I'm so sorry!
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: It's okay. Yeah, definitely, you know, it's about transforming lives, it's about opening doors, that haven't been opened yet, right? And to new possibilities and a brighter future for students.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: It's definitely, definitely my wine. It keeps me motivated, you know, to keep doing this work, even though it's hard work, right?
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Lizdelia Pinon: Sounds good. Thank you for that. So, I, you know, as… as I have to say, like, this is…
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Lizdelia Pinon: deeply personal for me, too, right? As a bilingual educator, as a mom of children with disabilities, I've seen how, firsthand, how access can completely change a child's trajectory, or limit it, right? And it keeps bringing me back to what you're naming in your article.
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Lizdelia Pinon: That's what it was. Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. That really, resonated with me. Yeah. You ground us on the data in a really powerful way. You share that women make up 35% of the STEM workforce.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Despite being nearly half of the overall workforce. Tell me more about this. When you look at the snapshot, what concerns you…
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Lizdelia Pinon: Most right now.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Yeah, I, you know, I really look forward each year to this report that I reference in the article, the National Girls Collaborative Project.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: They've been a great partner since I started at IDRA, that's when I learned about them back in 2019, and the work that they're doing is even more critical now than ever, and I love that they publish this report each year, and I feel like it would really support organizations like IDRA and others that are doing STEM education work.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And, and really, STEM workforce, you know, and, and pathway development. I think…
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: there was a lot to be concerned about in that report, which isn't new. Every year, there's jaw-dropping data that they share, and that a lot of it that you wouldn't be, you know, you would be really surprised by. The one that you mentioned is surprising, you know, and that number hasn't changed over the, you know, past few years. We see that.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Women are so underrepresented.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: in STEM, and, in the STEM workforce, and especially women of color, under 10%.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: are represented, you know, and that's shocking, you know, that that hasn't changed much over the past 7 years, and that's still, work that's crucial for us to focus on.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: You know, and some other data that they shared. There's so much to cover, but one of the stats that they shared was that 57% of girls don't believe they're smart enough for their dream career.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: You know, and we're going to talk about confidence, and we're going to talk about, you know, all of that, but it's, again, I think the driving kind of reflection that I got from that report and some others that I've reviewed is that, you know, we don't have a pipeline problem, we have a participation and persistence problem.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And so that's… that's a really big issue that we need to focus on.
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Lizdelia Pinon: And you center this so clearly in your article.
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Lizdelia Pinon: I… when I was doing a little bit of research, I heard that, like, how about a Latina, in the STEM workforce, with a disability? I heard it's less than 1%, and a fraction in some of those, workforce, professions.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Oh, yeah.
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Lizdelia Pinon: And that's disheartening, right? So you center this is so clearly in your article, that the issue isn't necessarily ability, that it's access, culture, and confidence.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Starting with.
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Lizdelia Pinon: access. Talk to me a little bit, Dr. Garcia, about how anti-DEI policies and the dismantling of programs are directly impacting participation.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Yeah, it's, you know, it's been crushing. All of the, you know, anti-diversity, equity, inclusion laws and policies, you know.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Everything has just dismantled, defunded, high-quality programming. It's our… our support systems that have just been completely crushed.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And those support systems are critical to STEM persistence for women and girls, and it's under attack.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And it's frustrating to see that. There were so many gains, you know, there were so many programs and bridging programs that supported girls and women in STEM that are no longer in existence, right? And so now, with fewer opportunities to engage, interest could decline, participation and persistence could decline even more, and it's just a significant
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: massive loss of potential talent, ideas, and perspectives, and this really hits home for me, you know, and then that leads to culture, right? And we know that cultural stereotypes often frame STEM careers as being unsuitable or incompatible for women.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And we see there's a lot of barriers in workplaces.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And so that, that culture in the workplaces, definitely needs to change, and role models are a key.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: key approach, and really emphasis that we need to turn our attention to, because it changes things. You know, girls often have limited exposure to relatable women in STEM roles, and so we, definitely need to increase, those opportunities for students.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And, make… even through guidance counseling, through, different mentorship experiences, we need to invest in all of that in our efforts, even more. And lastly, confidence, like you said. Confidence is big, you know? Students' self-perception of
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: what I can do, right? And a lot of that perception declines between 5th and 12th grade. And, so this work starts earlier and earlier for us.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: So that girls aren't self-selecting out, because again, it's not that they can't do STEM, they're opting out because the system is kind of, like, quietly telling them, or loudly telling them, it's not for them, right? And so we've got to give students more opportunities to lean, to lead, and to lean into, leadership opportunities that will help
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Build confidence for students and help them see themselves in these roles, that are innovative, that are problem-solving, that have real-world applications.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And so those are some of the kind of aha moments that… and big takeaways that… that I read through,
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Through all of that data and the reports.
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Lizdelia Pinon: So, can I go back a little bit and ask you, how do we, you mentioned a couple of examples, but how do we begin shifting that culture in a real way?
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Yeah, you know, there's a lot of different recommendations, for sure, and I know, you know, this is kind of where IDRA shines. You know, we've got a lot of cross-sector partnership work and alignment that's taking place, especially here in San Antonio, as we co-lead the Alamo STEM ecosystem.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: you know, this has to be community-rooted. So educators, industry, higher education, we're all carving out and architecting different pathways.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: So that students have a chance, not just so they see opportunity, but actually have tangible access to those opportunities. And so, we've got to invest in teachers. We've got to invest in teachers as multipliers. A lot of, I think, folks
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: see… don't see the value in that, and they should, because our teachers are reaching so many students in their classrooms, in their school communities, in the programs that they run. And so, we've got to, definitely, you know, work with our teachers, and work with our counselors, and all of those, folks that play such a pivotal role in students as they're navigating and persisting through this demographic.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: way.
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Lizdelia Pinon: And Dr. Garcia, I have, like, a lived experience. I went to a parent meeting the other day, and I have one son and two daughters. And when I went to speak with, what, the science teacher for my son, she was like.
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Lizdelia Pinon: oh, he needs to be in STEM, he's… he would be wonderful, and Felicita, my other daughter, also has actually higher scores than him, and that was never mentioned in the
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Lizdelia Pinon: Right? So, how do we… when we look at, like, so many… in many cases, they're not even, like…
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Lizdelia Pinon: talking about all girls, right? Because when we talk about girls in STEM, much less when you look at a Latino girl with disabilities. So, how do we build these systems that really support students
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Lizdelia Pinon: that aren't even measuring, that we're not even measuring. How do we make sure that we're looking at the data closely?
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Aww.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Yeah, you know, this work requires change at multiple levels, right? Like, when we think about policy, when we think about culture, in the STEM workplace and also in our classrooms and school culture, and then leadership accountability, right? All of this,
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: is… is… there's tons of entry points to tackle this. Some of the recommendations that really supported growth in this area, and really systems-level momentum was mentorship. Having mentors that are relevant, that can connect to students, you know, that
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: That look like them, that maybe are from the same school or similar schools that the students are from. People that can really help, increase girls' confidence, and really help influence those career aspirations.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Mentorship came up time and time again through all of the reporting, because it's just that important. It matters. Mentorship matters.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Also hands-on experiences, right? Those internships.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: job shadowing. I know here in San Antonio, there's, like, paid internships for girls, in middle school that a lot of girls just don't know about, and they can get summer experiences and jobs that can really help be pivotal experiences for them and change their trajectory, and really help them see their skills and their value. And so all of those investments are super important.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: There's a lot that could be done with investments in outreach, and like I said earlier, those bridging programs from elementary to middle, middle to high school, and high school to college, all of those programs can help with retention, with attainment, for women and girls in STEM, especially students of color and first-generation students like myself. Those programs matter, and they make a huge difference for students.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Dr. Garcia, one thing I really appreciated about your article is that you didn't just name the problems, you pointed to some
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Lizdelia Pinon: clear solutions, right? You talked about mentorships, hands-on experience, that cross-sector collaboration, that you're, like, knee-deep in that work. And in my work at IDRA, we talk a lot about that ecosystem alignment, right?
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Yes.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Because this isn't about…
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Lizdelia Pinon: schools can solve alone. We need the educators, higher ed, everyone, a community working to build these real pathways.
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Lizdelia Pinon: One last question. What does that ecosystem look like when it's actually working well?
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Oh, wow. You know, I think about… a lot of people kind of show a graphic when it comes to, like, the stem pathway of, like, a leaky stem pipeline, where it's like, you know, as…
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: students are progressing through, they're… we're losing students. I don't see it that way. I feel like that's kind of a deficit way of looking at it. I think a really healthy ecosystem, it kind of looks like a river, if you will, or a highway system with tons of multiple entries and exit points, where students, no matter what grade that they're, you know, in, no matter what age that they're in.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: they can jump back on, you know? There's a lot of students who, there's a lot of entrepreneurs that we've interviewed before, even our keynote speaker at our educator… Alamo STEM Ecosystem Educator Conference this year. He talked about how he wasn't in STEM programming, but then he started to tinker, and he was curious, and he, you know, later on in life, he went back and got his, degree in engineering.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And then from there, he started his own company, building bionic hands to serve people that were in need at a more affordable cost. And he talked about how he was just a student that loved gaming, and eventually he started tinkering and building, and then it turned into, let me go back and get my engineering degree. And it was a very untraditional path, and I feel like there's not a one-size-fits-all approach with STEM education.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And so I feel like we need to remember that, you know, as a nonprofit that's building programs for students and teachers in community with other partners in higher ed and industry, we need to work together to build a pathway that has lots of entry points and exit points for them to discover and learn something new about themselves, and maybe they'll come back to it again later.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And that's the beauty of it. And I think that, again, I think there's a lot of work to be done.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: But it's got to be community-rooted, right? And, and that's what we're really excited about doing here in our STEM ecosystems.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Tektora Gracia. This work has happened
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Lizdelia Pinon: What I'm hearing is that this work happens at these multiple levels, policy, culture, leadership, accountability. We can't keep asking students to navigate systems that weren't really designed for them. It's our responsibility to fix them, because this… the impact of this work, as you've seen, is life-changing. So, Doctora Garcia, thank you for your leadership.
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Lizdelia Pinon: your voice, and for counting to push this conversation forward. Do you have any last message to… to our listeners?
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Well, you know, let's just do this work together. I think there's, you know, everybody, especially from different sectors, we all have a unique lens and a unique approach to this work.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And there's no right or wrong way of doing it. I think it's just identifying a solution, starting small, starting somewhere, and making sure that, you know, students are at the center of those conversations, and families and teachers, so that you stay anchored and grounded in that work.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And yeah, it's, it's, again, it's life-changing work, so we're excited about it, and definitely work with us, you know, reach out to IDRA if you're interested, if you have new ideas.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: to really move this needle forward so that we're not having this same conversation 7 years down the road. Let's try to work together, because we all have brilliance and expertise in our own areas.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And there's a lot of work to be done together, so definitely reach out to us.
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Lizdelia Pinon: And thank you for everyone for listening. Let's keep building systems that truly recognize the brilliance of all our students. Gracias.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Okay, wait. Who's starting? Is it you, Liz?
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Christie Goodman, APR, Fellow PRSA (she/her): You're muted, Liz.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: I don't know, I was looking at your script, so I wasn't sure if that's where you're going or not.
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Lizdelia Pinon: As soon as you said, I'm gonna start recording, I lost all my screens.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Oh, okay.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Recall!
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Okay.
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Lizdelia Pinon: I'm so sorry.
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Christie Goodman, APR, Fellow PRSA (she/her): Count us off right.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Then again, and we'll edit that.
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Christie Goodman, APR, Fellow PRSA (she/her): Well, we've done our silence, it's okay that we talk to the left. That's no problem. So, I'll just go off-screen, and you can start, Liz, when you're ready.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Okay.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Welcome to the IDRA podcast, where we talk about equity, opportunity, and what it really takes to transform education systems. I'm Liz Pignone, and today I'm so honored to be joined by Dr. Garcia, also known as the SEM Queen, an incredible educator and advocate.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Today, we're going to take a deep dive into her recent piece on the state of women and girls in STEM, and what it really tells us about systems, access, and opportunity.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Doctora Garcia, I want to start with your why.
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Lizdelia Pinon: In your latest article, you reflect on writing about this issue back in 2019, and here we are, 7 years later, and you say, not much has changed. That really stayed with me. As a first-generation Latina STEM educator, you've seen this across time, so what keeps you committed to this work?
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Thank you so much, and I'm just so grateful to be here, too, with you, and to talk about, you know, the state of women and girls in STEM, and yeah, unfortunately, when I started writing about it in 2019, you know, 7 years later now, nothing…
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: has changed, enough, like it should have been, and, you know, the big thing that I think…
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: the big takeaway is it's not about ability, it's about systems, right? And my why, really, is to continue to drive this work forward, because talent is evenly distributed, but opportunity isn't.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And that's one of the things that I really want to change, and my why is really seeing students' lives transformed, seeing access for the first time to new opportunities, and a bright future. And so, that's definitely my why. And there's a lot of work to be done, so I'm grateful to be in community with others.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Who are also lying to this work, yeah.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Thank you for that. I like that. I like what you said. You said, you mentioned that
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Lizdelia Pinon: Sorry, Christy.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Let me go back. You mentioned that
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Lizdelia Pinon: You're lying, it was perfect, Dr. Garcia, I'm so sorry!
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: It's okay. Yeah, definitely, you know, it's about transforming lives, it's about opening doors, that haven't been opened yet, right? And to new possibilities and a brighter future for students.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: It's definitely, definitely my wine. It keeps me motivated, you know, to keep doing this work, even though it's hard work, right?
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Lizdelia Pinon: Sounds good. Thank you for that. So, I, you know, as… as I have to say, like, this is…
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Lizdelia Pinon: deeply personal for me, too, right? As a bilingual educator, as a mom of children with disabilities, I've seen how, firsthand, how access can completely change a child's trajectory, or limit it, right? And it keeps bringing me back to what you're naming in your article.
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Lizdelia Pinon: That's what it was. Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. That really, resonated with me. Yeah. You ground us on the data in a really powerful way. You share that women make up 35% of the STEM workforce.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Despite being nearly half of the overall workforce. Tell me more about this. When you look at the snapshot, what concerns you…
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Lizdelia Pinon: Most right now.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Yeah, I, you know, I really look forward each year to this report that I reference in the article, the National Girls Collaborative Project.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: They've been a great partner since I started at IDRA, that's when I learned about them back in 2019, and the work that they're doing is even more critical now than ever, and I love that they publish this report each year, and I feel like it would really support organizations like IDRA and others that are doing STEM education work.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And, and really, STEM workforce, you know, and, and pathway development. I think…
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: there was a lot to be concerned about in that report, which isn't new. Every year, there's jaw-dropping data that they share, and that a lot of it that you wouldn't be, you know, you would be really surprised by. The one that you mentioned is surprising, you know, and that number hasn't changed over the, you know, past few years. We see that.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Women are so underrepresented.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: in STEM, and, in the STEM workforce, and especially women of color, under 10%.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: are represented, you know, and that's shocking, you know, that that hasn't changed much over the past 7 years, and that's still, work that's crucial for us to focus on.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: You know, and some other data that they shared. There's so much to cover, but one of the stats that they shared was that 57% of girls don't believe they're smart enough for their dream career.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: You know, and we're going to talk about confidence, and we're going to talk about, you know, all of that, but it's, again, I think the driving kind of reflection that I got from that report and some others that I've reviewed is that, you know, we don't have a pipeline problem, we have a participation and persistence problem.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And so that's… that's a really big issue that we need to focus on.
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Lizdelia Pinon: And you center this so clearly in your article.
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Lizdelia Pinon: I… when I was doing a little bit of research, I heard that, like, how about a Latina, in the STEM workforce, with a disability? I heard it's less than 1%, and a fraction in some of those, workforce, professions.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Oh, yeah.
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Lizdelia Pinon: And that's disheartening, right? So you center this is so clearly in your article, that the issue isn't necessarily ability, that it's access, culture, and confidence.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Starting with.
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Lizdelia Pinon: access. Talk to me a little bit, Dr. Garcia, about how anti-DEI policies and the dismantling of programs are directly impacting participation.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Yeah, it's, you know, it's been crushing. All of the, you know, anti-diversity, equity, inclusion laws and policies, you know.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Everything has just dismantled, defunded, high-quality programming. It's our… our support systems that have just been completely crushed.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And those support systems are critical to STEM persistence for women and girls, and it's under attack.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And it's frustrating to see that. There were so many gains, you know, there were so many programs and bridging programs that supported girls and women in STEM that are no longer in existence, right? And so now, with fewer opportunities to engage, interest could decline, participation and persistence could decline even more, and it's just a significant
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: massive loss of potential talent, ideas, and perspectives, and this really hits home for me, you know, and then that leads to culture, right? And we know that cultural stereotypes often frame STEM careers as being unsuitable or incompatible for women.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And we see there's a lot of barriers in workplaces.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And so that, that culture in the workplaces, definitely needs to change, and role models are a key.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: key approach, and really emphasis that we need to turn our attention to, because it changes things. You know, girls often have limited exposure to relatable women in STEM roles, and so we, definitely need to increase, those opportunities for students.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And, make… even through guidance counseling, through, different mentorship experiences, we need to invest in all of that in our efforts, even more. And lastly, confidence, like you said. Confidence is big, you know? Students' self-perception of
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: what I can do, right? And a lot of that perception declines between 5th and 12th grade. And, so this work starts earlier and earlier for us.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: So that girls aren't self-selecting out, because again, it's not that they can't do STEM, they're opting out because the system is kind of, like, quietly telling them, or loudly telling them, it's not for them, right? And so we've got to give students more opportunities to lean, to lead, and to lean into, leadership opportunities that will help
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Build confidence for students and help them see themselves in these roles, that are innovative, that are problem-solving, that have real-world applications.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And so those are some of the kind of aha moments that… and big takeaways that… that I read through,
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Through all of that data and the reports.
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Lizdelia Pinon: So, can I go back a little bit and ask you, how do we, you mentioned a couple of examples, but how do we begin shifting that culture in a real way?
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Yeah, you know, there's a lot of different recommendations, for sure, and I know, you know, this is kind of where IDRA shines. You know, we've got a lot of cross-sector partnership work and alignment that's taking place, especially here in San Antonio, as we co-lead the Alamo STEM ecosystem.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: you know, this has to be community-rooted. So educators, industry, higher education, we're all carving out and architecting different pathways.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: So that students have a chance, not just so they see opportunity, but actually have tangible access to those opportunities. And so, we've got to invest in teachers. We've got to invest in teachers as multipliers. A lot of, I think, folks
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: see… don't see the value in that, and they should, because our teachers are reaching so many students in their classrooms, in their school communities, in the programs that they run. And so, we've got to, definitely, you know, work with our teachers, and work with our counselors, and all of those, folks that play such a pivotal role in students as they're navigating and persisting through this demographic.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: way.
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Lizdelia Pinon: And Dr. Garcia, I have, like, a lived experience. I went to a parent meeting the other day, and I have one son and two daughters. And when I went to speak with, what, the science teacher for my son, she was like.
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Lizdelia Pinon: oh, he needs to be in STEM, he's… he would be wonderful, and Felicita, my other daughter, also has actually higher scores than him, and that was never mentioned in the
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Lizdelia Pinon: Right? So, how do we… when we look at, like, so many… in many cases, they're not even, like…
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Lizdelia Pinon: talking about all girls, right? Because when we talk about girls in STEM, much less when you look at a Latino girl with disabilities. So, how do we build these systems that really support students
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Lizdelia Pinon: that aren't even measuring, that we're not even measuring. How do we make sure that we're looking at the data closely?
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Aww.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Yeah, you know, this work requires change at multiple levels, right? Like, when we think about policy, when we think about culture, in the STEM workplace and also in our classrooms and school culture, and then leadership accountability, right? All of this,
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: is… is… there's tons of entry points to tackle this. Some of the recommendations that really supported growth in this area, and really systems-level momentum was mentorship. Having mentors that are relevant, that can connect to students, you know, that
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: That look like them, that maybe are from the same school or similar schools that the students are from. People that can really help, increase girls' confidence, and really help influence those career aspirations.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Mentorship came up time and time again through all of the reporting, because it's just that important. It matters. Mentorship matters.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Also hands-on experiences, right? Those internships.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: job shadowing. I know here in San Antonio, there's, like, paid internships for girls, in middle school that a lot of girls just don't know about, and they can get summer experiences and jobs that can really help be pivotal experiences for them and change their trajectory, and really help them see their skills and their value. And so all of those investments are super important.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: There's a lot that could be done with investments in outreach, and like I said earlier, those bridging programs from elementary to middle, middle to high school, and high school to college, all of those programs can help with retention, with attainment, for women and girls in STEM, especially students of color and first-generation students like myself. Those programs matter, and they make a huge difference for students.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Dr. Garcia, one thing I really appreciated about your article is that you didn't just name the problems, you pointed to some
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Lizdelia Pinon: clear solutions, right? You talked about mentorships, hands-on experience, that cross-sector collaboration, that you're, like, knee-deep in that work. And in my work at IDRA, we talk a lot about that ecosystem alignment, right?
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Yes.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Because this isn't about…
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Lizdelia Pinon: schools can solve alone. We need the educators, higher ed, everyone, a community working to build these real pathways.
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Lizdelia Pinon: One last question. What does that ecosystem look like when it's actually working well?
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Oh, wow. You know, I think about… a lot of people kind of show a graphic when it comes to, like, the stem pathway of, like, a leaky stem pipeline, where it's like, you know, as…
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: students are progressing through, they're… we're losing students. I don't see it that way. I feel like that's kind of a deficit way of looking at it. I think a really healthy ecosystem, it kind of looks like a river, if you will, or a highway system with tons of multiple entries and exit points, where students, no matter what grade that they're, you know, in, no matter what age that they're in.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: they can jump back on, you know? There's a lot of students who, there's a lot of entrepreneurs that we've interviewed before, even our keynote speaker at our educator… Alamo STEM Ecosystem Educator Conference this year. He talked about how he wasn't in STEM programming, but then he started to tinker, and he was curious, and he, you know, later on in life, he went back and got his, degree in engineering.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And then from there, he started his own company, building bionic hands to serve people that were in need at a more affordable cost. And he talked about how he was just a student that loved gaming, and eventually he started tinkering and building, and then it turned into, let me go back and get my engineering degree. And it was a very untraditional path, and I feel like there's not a one-size-fits-all approach with STEM education.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And so I feel like we need to remember that, you know, as a nonprofit that's building programs for students and teachers in community with other partners in higher ed and industry, we need to work together to build a pathway that has lots of entry points and exit points for them to discover and learn something new about themselves, and maybe they'll come back to it again later.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And that's the beauty of it. And I think that, again, I think there's a lot of work to be done.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: But it's got to be community-rooted, right? And, and that's what we're really excited about doing here in our STEM ecosystems.
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Lizdelia Pinon: Tektora Gracia. This work has happened
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Lizdelia Pinon: What I'm hearing is that this work happens at these multiple levels, policy, culture, leadership, accountability. We can't keep asking students to navigate systems that weren't really designed for them. It's our responsibility to fix them, because this… the impact of this work, as you've seen, is life-changing. So, Doctora Garcia, thank you for your leadership.
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Lizdelia Pinon: your voice, and for counting to push this conversation forward. Do you have any last message to… to our listeners?
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: Well, you know, let's just do this work together. I think there's, you know, everybody, especially from different sectors, we all have a unique lens and a unique approach to this work.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And there's no right or wrong way of doing it. I think it's just identifying a solution, starting small, starting somewhere, and making sure that, you know, students are at the center of those conversations, and families and teachers, so that you stay anchored and grounded in that work.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And yeah, it's, it's, again, it's life-changing work, so we're excited about it, and definitely work with us, you know, reach out to IDRA if you're interested, if you have new ideas.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: to really move this needle forward so that we're not having this same conversation 7 years down the road. Let's try to work together, because we all have brilliance and expertise in our own areas.
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Dr. Stephanie Garcia - IDRA: And there's a lot of work to be done together, so definitely reach out to us.
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Lizdelia Pinon: And thank you for everyone for listening. Let's keep building systems that truly recognize the brilliance of all our students. Gracias.
