By Liz Nolan, Contributing Writer
Northborough – About 150 girls in fifth through eighth grade attended the 10th Northboro Junior Woman’s Club STEM Conference for girls March 25 at Algonquin Regional High School.
Urologic Surgeon at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center and Assistant Clinical Professor at Tufts Medical School Dr. Oneeka Williams was the keynote speaker. Her message for the girls was to believe that they are brilliant and not to let limits be limiting.
She described how she navigated through her own barriers.
“Limits can be motivating,” Williams said. “Limits can be used to challenge us. Limits can be the birthplace of creativity and innovation. The other side of a limit is an opportunity – an opportunity to educate, an opportunity to trail-blaze, an opportunity to create a new norm.”
She encouraged the girls not to be afraid of limits, but instead be propelled and inspired by them.
These sentiments are highlighted in her children’s book series featuring main character and action hero Dr. Dee Dee Dynamo, a surgeon with extraordinary powers whose motto is “Not even the sky is the limit.”
The girls were able to attend four free workshops presented by women who are leaders in the science, technology, engineering and math fields. The workshops were all hands-on so the attendees could catch a glimpse of what it might be like working in that field someday.
Sixth-grader Zoe Oelkers said, “My favorite workshop was architecture because I like watching a simple plan become something big and important.”
Northborough resident and STEAM director with the Dudley-Charlton Regional School District Karen Ares, who co-led the Bristlebot Robot workshop said, “It’s such a great event for these girls and I commend the Northboro Junior Woman’s Club for continuing to invest in it every year! I was very happy to participate in such a great community-wide event.”
