Career Conference Engineers Non-Traditional Choices for Girls

It doesn’t take a mathematician, male or female, to figure out that Brighter Horizons, a math and science conference for girls, is growing in popularity.

Six years ago, the inaugural conference attracted 100 students. Last year, 1,000 showed up.

On Saturday, the seventh annual event grew again with 1,400 girls, and several boys, at Rio Mesa High School listening to female biologists, computer programmers and engineers discuss topics ranging from mammalian cells to the science of making candy bars.

“I think it’s growing by word of mouth,” said director Terri Lisagor.

The American Assn. of University Women and the Ventura County superintendent of schools designed the conference to give girls in grades six through 12 a chance to meet women working in the male-dominated fields of science, mathematics and technology.

Johanna Saavedra, an eighth-grader at Robert Frank Intermediate School in Oxnard, was one girl who left inspired.

“It helps you follow your dream,” Johanna said. “They show you that everything you want to achieve, you could.”

Jennifer Carbone, a sophomore at La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks, came to the conference knowing she wanted to work with children.

After listening to crime analyst Dana Trottier explain how data help police officers solve crimes, the Simi Valley teen started thinking about a career that would merge the two fields.

Maybe she could work with young victims of crime, or specialize in finding missing children.

“It just like broadens your view of what you want to do in life,” Jennifer said.

The first sessions to fill up were for Kimberly Galante’s talks on “Life in a Chocolate Factory,” a new offering this year.

While girls munched on candy bars and chocolate eggs, Galante told them she uses problem-solving skills as a mechanical engineer at Nestle in Glendale to make chocolate taste, look and feel right.

Galante described her love for her job and the perks that come with it, including eating her creations and traveling to Europe. But she tempered her presentation with harsher realities.

“It’s still a male-dominated engineering world out there,” Galante said.

The conference, which is open to boys, also gave a few males a taste of what it’s like in a woman’s world.

General surgeon Ken Wiebe was the lone male presenter. His daughter Rebecca, who shares a practice with him, was supposed to speak but woke up with a 103-degree temperature Saturday and couldn’t attend. The girls listened to Wiebe, asked questions about medicine and never took issue with his presence, but Wiebe said he regretted he had to fill in for his daughter.

“She would have done a much better job because she could relate to the girls,” Wiebe said.

The fact that this was a conference for girls was news to Kevin Curran, a junior at Hoover High School in Glendale. He got on a bus at his school Saturday morning and found all female faces looking at him.

“It felt weird. I didn’t know,” Curran said.

By lunch, Kevin was feeling comfortable and talking with girls from his school about becoming a sports trainer. He even vowed to return next year.

“Just to get the girls mad,” he joked.