The STEAM mentoring program was implemented at Fulton County Schools’ Innovation Academy High School in Alpharetta in spring 2022 under the leadership of Pam Whitlock, high school IT chair. The initiative was so successful that Tech Alpharetta expanded the women’s forum program and officially launched it at the school in August 2022. Program advisors for the 2022-2023 school year include Fisher, Jackson Healthcare, Morgan Stanley, Scientific Games, Surgical Information Systems, Teledyne, Verint and Verizon.
“The goal of our program is to inspire more girls to pursue careers in STEAM,” Arora said. “The gender gap in technology persists. By mentoring high school students with female role models in the technology industry, we hope to show them the diversity of career opportunities in STEAM while providing them with trusted female advisors.”
“We are slowly and thoughtfully growing the program as we develop best practices, including monthly mentoring sessions at the schools and company visits,” Fisher said. “Morgan Stanley’s IT team is also developing an app for the program that will allow us to increase the number of participants and schools that can use the program.