The Brightside: Sarah Adewumi, STEM Advocate – 47abc

MARYLAND – Whereas an emphasis on the STEM discipline is rising every day, one girl is making it her life’s work to not solely be a stand-out within the discipline of STEM, however to point out different girls who look similar to her, they’ll do it too.

“I feel for the stem trade, it’s so essential for our younger folks and our younger ladies to have the ability to see that there are those that appear to be them throughout the trade,” says Sarah Adewumi, a younger girl who’s making it her life’s mission to not solely break boundaries on the earth of STEM however to encourage different girls to do the identical.

Adewumi tells us, “Oftentimes we see younger ladies particularly, by the point they attain age 14, 15 they begin to attempt to keep away from math and science once they get to highschool quite than pursue these research or do these careers.” She provides, “They will pursue these careers, they’ll pursue these research as a result of there’s house out there for them.”

It was at a younger age that Adewumi discovered her ardour for STEM after a visit to her father’s job for “Take your little one to work day.” “Since that day, I type of wished to work in STEM, I didn’t know precisely what I wished to do till I obtained into highschool.” Adewumi provides, “I pursued aviation on the College of Maryland Japanese Shore in Princess Anne, MD. It was then I fell in love with the trade.”

Whereas at UMES, Adewumi was a four-time NASA intern and transformed to full-time upon commencement. Nonetheless, she says it was the obvious lack of illustration of girls, particularly black girls within the stem trade that influenced her final objective. “I feel it’s nearly amplifying their voices as a result of there’s a number of girls doing unimaginable issues making wonderful developments throughout the trade, it’s nearly making their voices heard and their tales amplified.”

Adewumi now works at NASA on the Goddard house flight heart in portfolio administration, in addition to a science communicator. It’s her leaps and bounds within the STEM world which landed her on a TED speak referred to as “That is What a Scientist Appears Like.” “I feel simply discovering that neighborhood was a problem but it surely was the perfect factor ever and I used to be in a position to share my very own experiences and we had been all in a position to simply bask within the feeling that there’s house for us,” she tells us.

Not solely does she proceed to work within the STEM discipline, however Adewumi additionally began a non-profit referred to as NEXTGen in STEM. It’s a corporation that gives mentorship, and assets for the youthful era with an emphasis on younger girls within the trade. “I used to be additionally fascinated with style and pageantry and oftentimes folks don’t understand that you are able to do each, you are able to do an entire lot of issues whereas additionally being a scientist, tech, engineering or arithmetic,” says Adewumi.

She additionally says, it doesn’t matter what your pursuits are, or what gender you might be, in case you’re fascinated with STEM, there’s a spot for you, you simply need to hold pushing on which is a lesson she realized from a professor. “He stated the worst factor you are able to do is surrender and that basically simply planted one thing inside me that made me simply wish to proceed and hold going and discover that motivation someplace inside myself.” Adewumi provides, “In order that our younger folks, our younger ladies can see that and understand hey she’s in it perhaps I can do it too.”

Adewumi encourages dad and mom of youngsters to introduce their kids to stem associated actions to higher gauge in the event that they prefer it or not. You’ll find extra details about her non-profit by visiting her web site.