US teen establishes STEM club for girls

The hollow thud of heavy wooden doors echoed throughout the lecture hall as dozens of eyes turned to meet Alice Hou's. She wondered if she'd walked into the wrong room.

Hou was not afraid to be the center of attention-she had performed traditional Chinese dance on stage and won the 2017 title of Miss Arlington's Outstanding Teen. But the 16-year-old remembers how alienated she felt when she walked into her first computer science lecture earlier this year, one of only 11 women in a class of 100.

It was a familiar feeling for Alice, a high school senior at the Texas Academy of Mathematics & Science at the University of North Texas.

When she was in ninth grade at Jasper High School, Alice was one of only seven girls out of 40 competitors from Plano Independent School District to go to the state science fair.

"It was exciting, and I learned a lot of new things from seeing all the other projects around me, but I felt like it was missing something," she said. "I felt as if it would be more engaging if I was surrounded by more female peers to share this experience with."

That year, Alice decided to do her part to close the gender gap in STEM-science, technology, engineering and math.

She formed Girls in STEM, a club that focuses on learning, serving and teaching.

Since its formation, Girls in STEM has spread to Clark High School, Frisco's Centennial High School, Plano West Senior High and UNT. Leaders have set a goal to have a presence at 10 schools and register as a nonprofit in the coming years.

Alice will graduate next year and wants to bring Girls in STEM with her to college, where she plans to pursue a career in engineering or business.

With women occupying fewer than 30 percent of STEM professions in the US, Alice and her mother, Sara He, who is the group's parent sponsor, know there is room for improvement, but also reason to be optimistic.

"I think the resources are there, the (foundation) is there, and perceptions are changing," He said. "It's going to take some time, but I definitely feel now is the time that they will have all the opportunities. The sky's the limit if they want to do it."

Alice hopes Girls in STEM will help young women unabashedly follow their dreams.

Her advice to them: "These fields of STEM need you, and you do have a place in whatever you're interested in. (Don't) be afraid when you step into a room and no one in that room looks like you, because that is your power. You do belong there and you do have new questions to bring to the table and new ideas."