STEM & STEAM
Credit Card Company Charges Forward on STEM for Girls
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 10/19/17
A global leader in payment solutions committed to taking its STEM education program to 200,000 girls ages 10 to 13 by the year 2020. Mastercard's Girls4Tech sessions bring female role models together with female students to talk about career options and try out STEM activities.
The program has been running for three years in 17 countries. In October, for example, the company will be holding workshops in 10 countries, expected to reach 1,400 students, intended to show participants how to apply math and science as well as their own skills to solve challenges.
Mastercard's Susan Warner, senior vice president of internal communications, said the connection between her organization and STEM isn't a stretch. "Think about our company. We're algorithms, digital convergence, fraud detection, big data, cryptology and a super-fast network. Girls4Tech shows these girls that the skills they already have — being enthusiastic, being curious, being logical — really translates into a possible STEM career in the future."
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at dian@dischaffhauser.com or on Twitter @schaffhauser.