Kelly (she/her/hers), 22, New York

“As a STEM educator, I have gone back to think about all the trials and error I have went through to find what I like and what I would want to do for a career. As a child I was fascinated with many fields of STEM I have always loved science for as long as I can remember but was always told only smart people can achieve science and was told I could never achieve a career a science. I had that mentality all throughout my childhood from elementary school to high school it never stopped. In high school I was forced to choose an academy and was given ones I didn’t like, or people told me I shouldn’t do something because I was dumb, at the end I chose engineering. The first day of class in my sophomore year of high school, I knew I didn’t like it and I could never understand the concepts of physics and math together. But I went through with it because I felt like I had no choice because I was trying to show that I could do it and I passed that first year, but I was miserable. During that time, I was also in the process of applying for an internship at the American Museum of Natural History as a science educator even though I was told I shouldn’t do it because I wasn’t smart enough. When I got accepted, I was overjoyed but at the same time talked down a lot, but I still did the internship and as I was educating people about different field of science, I realized how much I loved science and biology and I finally found my passion and what I want to do as a career. I spent 5 days a week during the internship to study the material and constantly learning new things about the different fields of science I was educating people on and I became more fascinated with how diverse science is and it was after the internship ended I realized my passion. I still went through engineering all through high school and barely passed the classes, but I am now thriving as a STEM educator.”