Wednesday, December 4, 2024
A dynamic collaboration between the Girl Scouts of Nassau County and the Estée Lauder Companies brought girls together for an inspiring day of hands-on learning at Hofstra University. The event, held on Saturday, marked the ninth annual STEM conference and the second year of partnership between the Girl Scouts and Estée Lauder, with the goal of inspiring young girls to explore careers in science, technology, engineering and math.
Marilou Owens, Chief Membership and Diversity Officer for the Girl Scouts of Nassau County, emphasized the importance of the event, which provides girls with the opportunity to engage directly with a wide range of STEM fields.
“The STEM conference is designed to inspire girls to pretty much explore the world of science, technology, engineering and math, with a little bit of art in there as well,” Owens said. “But this is the STEM conference, and the event really offers girls a way to engage with women leaders in various fields of STEM.”
Participants — Girl Scouts from fourth to eighth grade — had the chance to take part in several interactive workshops hosted by Hofstra University professors. These included a variety of STEM-related activities such as fingerprinting and forensic science, astronomy, geology and civil engineering. Each girl chose two workshops to participate in, and they all spent an hour in each session learning about different activities and career paths in STEM.
All of the participating Girl Scouts — over 80 this year — came together in the afternoon for the collaboration with Estée Lauder. Lisa Napolione, the company’s head of research and development on Long Island, gave introductory remarks, Heidi Bialk, Vice President, Global Product Safety & Green Chemistry, delivered a keynote speech about sustainability and green chemistry and the girls created their own face mists.
“We were able to show the girls how cucumbers are extracted, how green tea is extracted, how chamomile is extracted,” Napolione said, and the girls also learned how makeup and skincare formulas are developed and created in sustainable ways.
“It was so cool to see them as they asked questions, as they made choices of what they included in their personal product, which they very much had their fingerprint on,” she said. “But what I was so really motivated (by) was how they talked to each other about what they chose to do, and how we were able to help them see as a scientist and engineer, what a variety of roles would be in making a product like this.”
Napolione said she enjoyed watching both the younger Girl Scouts and the seasoned scouts “really recognize that scientists have choices.”
With this continued partnership, both parties are hopeful that this annual STEM conference will inspire more young girls to pursue their dreams in STEM fields for years to come.
“We’re trying to provide a way to bridge the gap, the gender gap, in the STEM field,” Owens said. “We’re also trying to give girls early exposure to things that they might not have ever considered, something that they would enjoy and something that could make a positive impact on their lives today and in the future.”
