Countywide : Getting Girls Hooked on Science, Math

Latoya Boatley wants to become a nurse who works with patients and their lawyers in malpractice cases.

The 14-year-old Anaheim High School student didn’t know nurses could do that until Thursday.

That’s when she and about 800 other junior high and high school students--mostly girls--from throughout North County attended the 11th annual “Bridges to Tomorrow Careers in Mathematics and Science” conference at Fullerton College.

“I found out that there’s a lot of different types of nursing,” Latoya said. “I’m going to be a malpractice nurse. They make $65,000” a year.

She said she will have to go to graduate school, take law courses and classes in anatomy, science, physics and biology.

The conference, sponsored by the American Assn. of University Women, featured workshops by 48 women specialists in mathematics and science-related fields including marine biology, civil engineering, aeronautics, hazardous waste management, athletic training, environmental science, space shuttle engineering, criminology and pharmacology.

The women encouraged the participants to take more math and science classes in preparation for a variety of careers.

“In the words of Thomas Edison, ‘Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration,’ ” said Helen M. Olson, a project manager at Beckman Instruments. “In other words, it’s hard work.”

Kyong Yi, 17, a senior at Valencia High School in Placentia, said she got the message.

“They’re letting us know what classes we need to take and telling us about the opportunities available for women in science.”

Carol Tarbell, of the Brea/La Habra AAUW, said that 90% of the girls who attend the conference later take more math and science classes than they had planned “because they realize there are many different careers that require knowledge of math and science.”