Girls Inc.: Women of the Week Series Continues

April 4, 2022

YWCA Minneapolis Girls Inc. Eureka! is a five-year summer and school-year program for girls interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. In partnership with the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota, the Eureka! program builds sisterhood with girls from all over the Twin Cities — exploring their career interests and dreams while supporting them through high school graduation and preparing them for the next steps in their post-secondary education.In this blog, our Girls Inc. director, Marquita Butler, tells us about a special Woman of the Week feature within the program, how it began and how it will be incorporated in the future.Women of the Week, or WOW, began in the midst of the pandemic as a way to engage our Eureka! participants and volunteers. We held 45-minute sessions on Zoom featuring a woman leader on Fridays, three times a month. The session included our guest spending the first 30 minutes telling the girls about their career journey. Depending on the guest's comfort level, they would lead the girls through an activity related to their career. The last 15 minutes were reserved for a question-and-answer period.  Each Friday the WOW event was well attended. Eurekans really enjoyed learning about different careers and hearing about how women choose their careers. From each session we had women participate from our various corporate partners, those in various STEM careers and local political leaders. Many WOW sessions were recorded and published on YWCA Minneapolis' YouTube as a series for Eurekans to watch if they were unable to attend or wanted to refer back to a previous session.

View our Women of the Week series here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsIWKqx-x50&list=PLiI0qI45tngTzvJSwPwTwK4dDBWK5R7EbThe impact of WOW was evident in some of our Eurekans, specifically for rookie Maitreya Reeder. Maitreya participated in a WOW in which three guests shared about their experience being part of the LGBTQ+ community and working in finance. The guests shared about gay/straight alliances and how to establish affinity groups in the workplace. This experience inspired Maitreya to start the first Gay/Straight Alliance at her school! She had the opportunity to speak about her experience in a live interview for ChedHer on Cheddar.com as part of the JPMorgan Chase & Co. partnership.  As we transition back into in-person programming, we have concluded our Women of the Week series.  This summer we plan to relaunch the opportunity for Eurekans to engage with positive women leaders throughout the summer through our newly named program, Women Who Inspire. If you know someone who is interested in speaking at one of our Women Who Inspire series, please email us at girlsinc@ywcampls.org.Learn More about Girls Inc. Eureka!Donate to YWCA Minneapolis