Monsignor Edward Pace High School
The Women in STEM club at Monsignor Edward Pace High School hosted their 2023 symposium. The event gave female students who are interested in the science, technology, engineering and math fields an opportunity to learn from female leaders thriving in their professions. The event was attended by over 50 female students and hosted by 9 presenters in the STEM fields, 6 of which were proud Spartan alumnae. The Symposium started with a breakfast meet and greet in the Pace Chapel where students were introduced to the speakers and had the chance to get to know each other over coffee and pastelitos.
Soon after, the audience was sectioned into two groups, the Medical/Science presentation in the Chapel, and the Technology/Engineering presentation in the Spartan Center. The Chapel presentation had class of 2000 alumna, Lindsey Lyman, a pharmacist, class of 2012 alumna, Marissa Solares, a Dentist, class of 2019 alumna, Elysse Bernstein, a Registered Nurse specializing in Trauma, and Dr. Leeza Jimenez an Athletic Trainer at Msgr. Pace. Presentations in the Spartan Center were held by Class of 2018 alumna, Kai Cooper, an IT Security Compliance Administrator, class of 2016 alumna, Mia Lama, who graduated from UM with an Industrial Engineering bachelor and currently works for a technology company called Twilio, and class of 2016 alumna, Juliette Dubon, an engineer with Boeing who presented over video conference all the way from Seattle, Washington. The presentation also hosted Mrs. Teresa Colon who is a proud mother of 2 Pace alumni and works for the internet security company Akamai. Colon was joined by Mrs. Liudiva Ramirez who also works for Akamai and presented on cybersecurity, technology and their experience in those fields.
“The sad reality is that females are very underrepresented in STEM fields. We really wanted our girls to see that they could be successful in careers that were traditionally male-dominated. This was a great opportunity for our lady Spartans to meet alumni, who are working as professionals in STEM fields.” Mrs. Hedda Falcon said.
Mrs. Falcon is the current Pace Women in Stem Moderator, Robotics Club Moderator, FBLA Moderator, Fine Arts Department Chair and AP Computer Science Professor.
At the end of each presentation a Q&A session was held. Presenters advised the students on courses they should take, clubs at Pace and in college they should join and interview tips for entry-level jobs after college. Presenters brought stickers, goodie bags and give aways that were dispersed at the end when both groups gathered in the Spartan Center for closing remarks by Mrs. Hedda Falcon and Mrs. Amanda Perez ’19 who are the Women In Stem moderators at Pace.
“Our alumni were wonderful. They were so excited to share their experiences with our girls. I was so happy to watch the interaction between my current students and those I taught in the past and who are now successful professionals. Our alumni were able to share their personal experiences and give our girls advice. It's so wonderful seeing our Spartan alumni pass on their knowledge to the next generation.” Falcon said.
