March 2000

BUSINESS:
A girl's guide to high tech

Pique your daughter’s interest in science, math, and technology early in life and she’ll be more likely to
choose a high-tech career, says Vicki Lynn, who directs the Women @ Rensselaer Mentor Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

“Most important, help her to seek out a mentor,” Lynn says. “The job market in this new millennium is increasingly a woman’s world. Young girls need mentors they can identify with, look up to, and ask questions of.”

In preparing young girls to be successful in high-tech careers, Lynn offers the following tips:

• Expose your daughter early to science museums. Take her to the Smithsonian, or the local planetarium or aquarium, for example. Most important—get involved.
• Support her participation in national and local science awards programs, such as Odyssey of the Mind, U.S. First, and MathCOUNTS.
• Enroll your daughter in a summer computer camp, or a science and technology camp. Many offer scholarships and are hosted by major universities with high-tech programs.
  
• Encourage your daughter to take as much advanced math and science as is offered at her school. Some advanced placement classes are offered on college campuses where she can get a preliminary experience of college life.
  
• Encourage her participation in sports. Early experience will teach her valuable lessons in competition, leadership, and teamwork.
  
• Encourage her to take a public speaking course and volunteer for leadership positions in school or the community.
  
• Help her develop early entrepreneurial skills. By starting a small business, such as dog walking or baby-sitting, she will learn how to value her services, and market her skills.

CONTACT: Theresa Bourgeois, (518) 276-2840, bourgt@rpi.edu

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