Pastry chef, entrepreneur, architect and astronomer – about 250 girls will have the chance to explore these atypical female career options this Thursday at Northwestern.
The girls can design roller coasters, splice film and combine materials in a chemistry lab to make sticky slime – all as participants in NU’s 12th annual “Take Our Daughters to Work Day.”
“The whole point of the day is to provide girls with more exposure to professions that, even today, we don’t typically think of women going into,” said Renee Redd, director of the Women’s Center.
The event is sponsored by the Women’s Center and the Association of Northwestern University Women.
The participants are the daughters and guests of NU’s faculty and staff.
The girls, ages 9 to 16 will attend workshops such as “Build Your Own Empire: How to start your own business!” and “NUPD Blue: Find out the 411 on the 911.”
Registration will begin at 8:15 a.m. at Blomquist Recreation Center. The girls can choose from 17 tracks that feature tours on marketing, self-defense, film-making, sports and other topics.
This year’s keynote speaker for the Evanston campus is Kimberly Gray, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering. On the Chicago campus, the speaker is Alysia Tate, the editor and publisher of The Chicago Reporter.
Program chaperone Tiffany Beard, a Communication senior, said she wants to encourage young girls to be open to new careers.
“The whole purpose is to make children aware of what goes on in college,” Beard said. “I want to encourage them to stay in school and get good grades.”
Beard will lead a tour track called “Steppin’ Into Sorority Life,” an introduction into her sorority, the Northwestern chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, which is a historically black service-based organization.
Beard, who participated in the day last year, said she wished more undergraduate women would become involved with the cause.
“It’s really beautiful to see the questions (the girls) have, and it’s a chance to give back,” she said. “It makes a difference.”
“Take Our Daughters to Work Day” was started by the Ms. Foundation 14 years ago. The focus of the program changed in 2003 to include sons as well as daughters, though the NU program has kept its focus on girls, Redd said.
“The initial reason for doing this still exists – girls not thinking those careers are available to them,” said Redd.
The Ms. Foundation laid out guidelines to keep boys and girls separate during the scheduled day, though most participating companies no longer follow these guidelines, she said.
The activities are more than just a day away from school, Redd said.
“We’re not just showing them a video; they’re getting exposure to so many opportunities,” Redd said. “That’s what makes our program pretty spectacular.”
Reach Malika Bilal at [email protected].
