The president of ACLaS, Dr Theresa Rambaran, was featured on Jamaicans.com
1. Where did the idea come from to start the STEM organization ACLaS for girls?
There is an antiquated mindset which persists in certain spheres as far as science is concerned. If you mention the word ‘scientist’ to a group of young people, the majority will think of a male and automatically assign a masculine pronoun. In the few instances where they think of a woman, they tend to think of elderly women. After observing this I thought this very mindset could be the reason fewer women pursue careers in STEM and so I decided to start an initiative which is intended to break certain stereotypes and motivate women and girls to pursue science. Over time, I have also noticed that practices that can be detrimental to the development of girls is being glamorized on social media (to a certain extent) and so I figured an initiative such as ACLaS would be helpful in providing positive role models for girls.
Check out the rest of the interview at: