Manufacturing summit for female students hosted at Sacred Heart University

Manufacturing summit for female students hosted at Sacred Heart University

(CTPost, 10/22/19) – FAIRFIELD — If the precision machining shop at Platt Tech in Milford was light on female students on Tuesday, it’s because nearly half of them were representing at a Girls & Manufacturing Summit at Sacred Heart University.

It was a program designed to convince more girls that math, science and making stuff might be for them. What better ambassadors could there be than high school juniors like Monet Francis of Trumbull or Hailee Harriman of Milford whose eyes light up talking about the tools they’ve created with their own hands?

The Platt Tech contingent spent the morning at one of several exhibition booths, explaining the joy of applying what they learn on the spot. Their audience were middle and high school students like Maite Coyota, of Blackham School in Bridgeport.

Science, Coyota admitted, is one of the few subjects that catches her interest.

“With other classes, it’s hard to get my brain on,” Coyota said. “This is really interesting and cool. I can see myself as an engineer.”

That’s music to Alyce Stiles’s ears. She is associate director of experimental STEM education at the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, Inc.

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