MSOE teaming up with the Milwaukee Bucks and MPS for STEM academy for girls

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee Public Schools may be out for the summer, but a group of students is busy this week exploring careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM. 

Twenty-eight MPS 7th-grade girls will be getting the real college experience this week.

They are staying in dorms and attending classes, and the goal is to get them interested in STEM careers.

MSOE is teaming up with MPS and the Milwaukee Bucks for the first time to host this week-long Girls' STEM Academy.

MSOE professors and staff are teaching interactive lessons on topics like coding, medicine and artificial intelligence.

The girls will also attend sessions with professionals from organizations like the Milwaukee Bucks and GE healthcare.

The director of the STEM program at MSOE, Elizabeth Taylor, says having women in stem careers helps fuel innovation.

“Having diverse workplaces yields diverse ideas, diverse opportunities and so we want to see not only more women, of course, all our attendees are women, but also women of color to bring full diversity to get the best products and services. You also can’t design a product or service for the entire market if you don’t have that representation on the team.”

There is also an innovation challenge where the girls have to come up with a business idea and market their products to judges, and a winner will be picked at the end of the week.

For more MSOE STEM Community Programs, please click here.