The
world is HerWorld® too!
HerWorld®,
a national initiative of DeVry University,
educates
high school girls about the career choices
available in STEM fields.
By
Bette Sharpe - Glendale Daily Planet
On
Friday, February 28, 250 girls from high
schools in the Phoenix and surrounding cities
will learn about careers in science,
technology, engineering and math (STEM) at
HerWorld®. HerWorld®, a national initiative
of DeVry University, educates high school
girls about the career choices available in
STEM fields. The program also introduces the
young women to successful female role models
who illustrate how STEM careers are
challenging and rewarding and possible.
Over
the next decade, it is projected that STEM
fields will create 2.6 million new jobs, yet
women comprise only 24 percent of the current
STEM workforce. While the industry has made
some strides in piquing high school girls’
interest in STEM, one-third of women who enter
a STEM bachelor’s degree program switch
their major to a non-STEM field by the time
they graduate. This year, HerWorld®
highlights the important role mentors play in
keeping girls engaged in STEM through high
school and beyond.
When
the class of 2014 graduates from college in
five years, more than 8 million jobs will be
available in the fields of science,
technology, engineering and math STEM. Though
STEM accounts for a majority of job growth in
the U.S., the number of students enrolling in
relevant degree programs in college to fill
these positions continues to decline, leaving
a gap of skilled professionals. In 2012 In an
effort to close this growing gap, DeVry
University launched a movement called STEM
Ready, aiming to introduce more high school
students to STEM and careers within those
fields.
At
the HerWorld® event on Friday, March 1, 2014;
Nicole Keeling, Homeland Security
Investigations, Anti-Smuggling Task Force –
Special Agent; gave the keynote address. She
thought at first she wanted to study interior
design but that did not work out well because
she did not know how to draw and would not be
able to create a portfolio.
One
of her first jobs was watching out for
shoplifters and was chased by a person with a
knife who stole Twinkies. She stayed with
those "other jobs" because they
opened doors for her and her people whom she
would later ask to be a reference. To get and
to find your dream job "you have to do
those other things". "Get out there.
Explore." In her remarks she pointed out
aspects of her job that use science,
technology, engineering and math or STEM.
Being
a female in a man’s world is changing for
the better and it has opened doors for Special
Agent Keeling. She told the high school
students sitting under a tent on the Phoenix
DeVry campus about one of her undercover
assignments in a wedding dress shop that she
and another female agent were on. Sending in a
guy would not have worked so well. In another
example, sometimes the tough guys have a
change of heart when a woman suspect starts to
cry. In a case like this, Special Agent
Keeling takes on the role of "tough
girl". As a female agent, she is not
treated any differently than anyone else. She
loves her job and likes the "arresting
side" of her job over analyzing data for
most of the day.

Bette
Sharpe/Glendale Daily Planet no. 4996.
Diana
Navarro of DeVry University gives each
HerWorld® attendee a bag that holds folders,
maps and schedules and has room for handouts
and can carry notebooks and such. Within the
next month, sixteen HerWorld® events will be
happening all across the nation.

Bette
Sharpe/Glendale Daily Planet no. 4999.
Sayge
Ross, Ciara Green Ariana Newton and Christine
Burch all are seniors from Ironwood High
School in Glendale at the Friday, March 1,
2014 morning check-in on the DeVry University
campus in Phoenix.

Bette
Sharpe/Glendale Daily Planet no. 5019.
Nicole
Keeling, Homeland Security Investigations,
Anti-Smuggling Task Force – Special Agent;
gave the keynote address. Attendees at
HerWorld® get to interact with peers,
participate in educational and
confidence-building activities, and receive
advice from successful female leaders, like
Nicole Keeling, in the community to motivate
them to prepare and succeed in college to
reach their career dreams.

Bette
Sharpe/Glendale Daily Planet no. 5024.
Foreign
Currency Exchange-International Accounting was
one of many HerWorld® workshops offered on
Friday, February 28. This workshop was
instructed by Dr. Arlene Goodman. Yes, this
workshop involves math and a calculator was
used.
Each
student hand selected three workshops. The
workshop topics to choose from are listed
below.
Tricks
and Treats– Adobe Photoshop
Scribbler
Robot
How
Do We Look Inside the Body?
Robotics
Packet
Tracer (creating a virtual network)
The
Binary Counter
GameMaker-"Catch
the Clown"
Protecting
Your Network
Special
Workshop presented by Homeland Security –
Special Agents
Forensic
Accounting – Follow the Money,
Switched
a t Birth (Through technologies in Clinical
Laboratory Sciences, human blood group
genetics
can be used to determine parentage.)
Foreign
Currency Exchange – International Accounting
History
of HerWorld®
DeVry
University developed HerWorld® more than 15
years ago to empower young women to explore
careers in science, technology, engineering
and math (STEM). As demand for the program
grew, it was rolled out to DeVry University
campuses across the country.
Through
the HerWorld® program, DeVry University
introduces high school women to in-demand STEM
careers and helps inspire them to achieve new
possibilities today and see how STEM can
change the world of tomorrow.
March
is National HerWorld® Month
In March 2013, more than 7,000 young women
participated in more than 20 HerWorld®
events across the country during March –
National HerWorld® Month
DeVry University’s corporate partners
including Cisco, Microsoft, and Google
provide guest speakers at many events to
further support HerWorld®’s powerful
message.