Do you know what STEM is?

S is for Science, T is for Technology, E is for Engineering, M is for Math 

Right now in the United States there are currently 3 MILLION Unfilled STEM* Jobs. That number is staggering to me.  What's even more staggering is the fact that girls are still behind in STEM jobs compared with boys.  I was blessed growing up in that if I wanted to do something there was really no gender associated with it.  I wanted to fly planes and my parents never questioned that.  For birthday and Christmas gifts our parents (okay...our Mom...she was in charge of gifts) often bought my sister and I power tools.  It was truly a wonderful atmosphere to grow up in so the thought of girls NOT being encouraged regarding Science, Technology, Engineering and Math is not something I can relate to.

Knowledge is Power and knowing these numbers can help to shape the future of our children in profound ways.  Now is the time to encourage students to reach for the stars. One of my sons and I were just discussing his future at dinner tonight and what he should study in college.  I had thought maybe law...he is an amazing debater much to my chagrin, but after looking at this statistics I think we can add some more options to the table for him.

 Since it's time to start getting the kids ready to go back to school I think it's important to make the effort to encourage students ~ all students ~ to  SUCCEED.

 Girls Who Code ~ talk about an amazing idea.  These are local clubs that offer computer science education and  tech industry exposure to 6th to 12th grade girls during the academic year.  You can find out more here.

There are lots of things we can do to encourage education in our children and the Verizon/Powerful Answers/Inspire Her Mind site is a great place to start.

Disclosure:  I am a Verizon #VZWBuzz Lifestyle Blogger but all opinions in this post are mine {as always} and NO compensation or Product was received for this post.  I just wanted to pass along some great information!