All-girls math competition aims to inspire other girls to pursue STEM

A contract ratified by the Washington Teachers' Union could give DCPS teachers a 9 percent raise over a three-year period. (Thinkstock)

A group of girls who love STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) are working to gather girls throughout the D.C. metro area with the same interests.

Their aim is to engender a sense of community and to inspire other girls to pursue their passions in these fields.

Their organization is called InteGirls.

Emmy Song, one of InteGirls’ 10 co-founders, told WTOP that the founders attend three high schools in Montgomery County High: Wootton, Montgomery Blair and Richard Montgomery.

The group is hosting its inaugural math competition on May 18 at Montgomery College’s Rockville location.

It most certainly will be a contest, but creating a contentious environment is not their objective.

“So basically, we’ve all had experience in STEM classes and activities, and oftentimes been one of the only girls in the room. So we started InteGirls to try to give young girls an opportunity to experience math in a fun and exciting way,” Song said.

The daylong, friendly math contest will include “individual rounds in the four main competition math subjects, which are algebra, geometry, combinatorics and number theory, And then, they’re also going to have a team round so they can collaborate and work together to solve problems,” Song said.

“We want the teams to be from the same school,” she said.

Teams will consist of three people, but if an individual does not have a team, Song said those girls will be put into triads for the competition.

Learn more and sign up here at InteGirls.

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