Glass ceilings can be difficult to break especially for women who want to enter into the male dominated field of technology.
Smith-Cotton freshman engineering team members, Bridget Young, Lauren McFail, Maggie Sparks, Hunter Sparks and Madisyn Mabrey, not only broke the surface of that ceiling but they climbed over the shards and captured first place in the state Extempore Competition for gifted students.
The competition, hosted this year, by the Blue Springs School District focuses on higher levels of thinking, creativity and problem solving, something the team members said they developed and strengthened with the help of Barbara Todd, the gifted instructor at the Sedalia 200 Middle School.
“The five of us were able to meet once a month with Mrs. Todd, up until April,” Bridget Young said. “At that point our team had our skit written and we met after school four times within the weeks leading up to the competition.”
Those after school meetings allowed the girls time to build their circuit, rehearse lines and practice the skit as a whole to make sure everything went well together according to Hunter Sparks.
“The engineering part of our skit was very enjoyable and one of my favorite parts to do,” Sparks commented. “Mrs. Sparks, who really inspires me always had us do circuits and other engineering projects during REACH, and that was a reason I took an interest in engineering.”
The competition allows the teams to choose from different categories in which to compete and the girls selected engineering.
“I was interested in engineering in REACH when we would build with snap circuits or different building exercises,” Maggie Sparks said. “I always love the different objects we have to build; it always gives us a challenge.
In JROTC always inspire me to do my best and never give up on my goals,” she added. “They taught me how to work as a team with others and how to achieve my goals.”
Teamwork played an important part in the girls win, according to Lauren McFail.
“It took a lot of effort and time and a lot of team work as well,” McFail said. “When someone had an idea, we worked with it, added to it and perfected it.”
“We’ve been together for a while now and it makes bouncing ideas off each other a lot easier and a lot more fun,” McFail added. “We work well together and teamwork is a big part of this whole competition. We came in ready for anything knowing we had each other by our side.”
All of the team members the Democrat spoke to replied that classes in the STEM fields have always been of interest to them, with two of the girls having completed a project that lead the way during their freshman year.
Keeping the team together for future competitions is another bond the girls share.
“Well of course we plan to compete together next year and defend our title,” McFail said enthusiastically. “We’re not done yet.
“We want to try to go back every year until we graduate,” she added. “Why quit when there’s such a good chance of winning?”
When asked what advice they could offer to other young women interested in the STEM field Maggie Sparks urged others to keep dreaming, adding no one should ever tell another what they can and can’t achieve.
Her teammate reiterated those comments.
“Don’t give up, why they say it’s too hard or you can’t do it show them you can,” McFail added. “Show them that just because it’s not the way they would do it doesn’t make it wrong.
“That’s what this competition is about: being creative and thinking outside the box,” she added. “Team work is a big part of it. Take someone’s different way of doing something and (then) adding to it to make it work.”
