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– When Alena Wicker realized the racial and gender gaps in employment in the STEM fields, she went to work. The 12-year-old from Texas told her mother, “I want to create this culture of brown girls in STEM because it’s a big divide, and I just want to do something,” Good Morning America reports. In fact, the Pew Research Center has found that only 9% of STEM workers are Black people and only 7% Hispanic. The result of Alena’s effort is a website, thebrownstemgirl, for girls of color. Her other endeavors include writing a children’s book and starting a podcast, a few weeks after its debut, featuring “women and girls from STEM to ask and answer questions”. She also intends to lead by example.
“I’m going to be the youngest black girl to ever work for NASA,” Alena told her mother. She will begin distance learning at Arizona State University in May as soon as she finishes high school. Alena plans to double her studies in astronomical and planetary science and chemistry on her way to becoming an engineer. Earlier this year, NASA honored its first black female engineer, Mary Jackson, by naming its Washington headquarters for her. Alena hopes that one of her podcast guests will be another pioneer: Mae Jemison, NASA’s first black female astronaut. The child prodigy is on his way to gaining ground himself; she and her mother, Daphne McQuarter, said NASA has contacted Alena. (Read more uplifting news stories.)