WEBVTT 00:00:14.056 --> 00:00:16.616 My name is Daniel Brown and I teach Physics at Hillcrest High School here in Dallas, Texas. 00:00:16.926 --> 00:00:21.096 I think it's really critical to show role models to all students, girls included. 00:00:21.526 --> 00:00:25.886 And so when I do seek out role models and have guest speakers come into my room, 00:00:26.226 --> 00:00:30.726 I really like to try and find women role models, 00:00:30.726 --> 00:00:33.616 so that they can see that it's something they can do. 00:00:33.926 --> 00:00:38.666 And usually I request to find women engineers or other such speakers that are young. 00:00:38.666 --> 00:00:41.906 I want them in their 20s, where they're more of an older sister. 00:00:42.276 --> 00:00:45.786 I've had a number of guest speakers that are women in the past, 00:00:45.786 --> 00:00:49.426 and some are highly accomplished women in their 50s. 00:00:49.526 --> 00:00:51.566 And they have accomplished amazing things. 00:00:51.566 --> 00:00:56.016 They have their names on U.S. patents, and they are almost so high, I think, 00:00:56.016 --> 00:01:00.986 they're almost out of touch and women just can't see how they can get there-the younger women I 00:01:00.986 --> 00:01:02.646 work with as students in my class. 00:01:03.006 --> 00:01:09.146 Where someone who is 28 and they're pulling down 60, 70 thousand and doing a really fun, 00:01:09.146 --> 00:01:12.956 techie job but they're only out of college 5 years and they're not married, 00:01:12.956 --> 00:01:16.226 don't have kids yet-my students can relate so much better. 00:01:16.446 --> 00:01:22.066 And they'll show up in blue jeans and much more relaxed, and they'll just talk about how amazing 00:01:22.066 --> 00:01:26.266 and how cool and how fun it is to show up every day and get paid to solve real life problems. 00:01:26.266 --> 00:01:29.296 I find it's very effective when I invite a guest speaker if they come 00:01:29.296 --> 00:01:30.936 in when we're studying that topic. 00:01:31.226 --> 00:01:32.696 But I've also found it's not necessary. 00:01:33.146 --> 00:01:36.536 That if it's a topic that we've studied any time earlier in the year, I can say, "Hey, 00:01:36.536 --> 00:01:41.216 we're bringing in this kind of scientist, and they actually use some 00:01:41.216 --> 00:01:43.336 of the information we're talking about." 00:01:43.336 --> 00:01:46.036 So for instance, my guest speakers last year, 00:01:46.146 --> 00:01:48.126 one of them worked with digital light projection. 00:01:48.546 --> 00:01:53.906 Okay? Which a lot of the optics things that we study everyday matter to them. 00:01:54.376 --> 00:01:58.836 And so they were able to kind of have a link right away 00:01:58.836 --> 00:02:00.436 of what that guest speaker was studying. 00:02:00.866 --> 00:02:05.396 And I also deliberately and specifically mentioned, "Hey, 00:02:05.396 --> 00:02:07.466 you know there are some really cool people in this 00:02:07.546 --> 00:02:09.186 and there are really cool women in this too." 00:02:09.366 --> 00:02:10.366 And so they were both women. 00:02:10.366 --> 00:02:11.906 They were both in their 20s. 00:02:11.906 --> 00:02:15.556 They were both minority, and it just provided a really good picture 00:02:15.816 --> 00:02:19.876 that engineers are not white males with pocket protectors, 00:02:19.926 --> 00:02:22.996 and that's just not the true image at all any more. 00:02:23.316 --> 00:02:27.646 And it is changing and of course, we hope it will continue to change as a lot of people 00:02:27.646 --> 00:02:30.536 with those talents-whether they be men or women-go into that field. 00:02:30.736 --> 00:02:34.656 Last year when we had two guest speakers come-they were two young women 00:02:34.656 --> 00:02:35.816 from Texas Instruments. 00:02:36.296 --> 00:02:41.316 And there's a Speakers Bureau for all the technical firms in the Dallas area. 00:02:41.686 --> 00:02:43.846 And so those two happened to come from Texas Instruments 00:02:43.846 --> 00:02:47.086 but they can come from other places as well. 00:02:47.086 --> 00:02:52.446 One of them worked with DLP-Digital Light Projection Chips-and another worked 00:02:52.446 --> 00:02:55.126 on a different fabrication line. 00:02:55.666 --> 00:02:58.476 And they were just fantastic. 00:02:58.476 --> 00:03:02.256 They were so engaged, and they had a PowerPoint presentation, 00:03:02.256 --> 00:03:05.996 but a lot of the time they just spent fielding questions, because the kids wanted to know, 00:03:06.176 --> 00:03:07.446 "What kind of problems do you run into? 00:03:07.446 --> 00:03:08.656 What kind of problems do you solve? 00:03:08.656 --> 00:03:09.356 What do you do? 00:03:09.356 --> 00:03:10.846 Do you spend your whole day in meetings? 00:03:10.846 --> 00:03:12.886 Do you spend your whole day in a lab working on stuff? 00:03:12.886 --> 00:03:15.056 I want to know what it's like." 00:03:15.056 --> 00:03:18.366 And, of course, they were talking about, "No, we don't spend our whole life in a lab. 00:03:18.366 --> 00:03:22.646 We are constantly working with different people and going from one group 00:03:22.646 --> 00:03:27.406 to another gathering what we need, the resources to solve the problems in front of us today. 00:03:27.736 --> 00:03:31.006 And we're always thinking about how we can better the corporation, 00:03:31.576 --> 00:03:33.866 and return more profit to the shareholders." 00:03:33.866 --> 00:03:36.496 They were going into so much detail as to what their everyday life was like, 00:03:36.496 --> 00:03:38.276 and it was really exciting the way they were presenting it. 00:03:38.276 --> 00:03:41.306 And afterwards, a number of students, both male and female, 00:03:41.306 --> 00:03:43.556 really commented how cool the girls were. 00:03:43.956 --> 00:03:50.816 And that's a-that really dispels another stereotype a lot of people have of engineers 00:03:51.056 --> 00:03:55.826 or scientists-that they're just really a bunch of nerdy people that are not cool at all. 00:03:56.156 --> 00:04:01.526 I find when girls are questioning role models they really want to know about some 00:04:01.526 --> 00:04:03.936 of the more touchy-feely sides of a job. 00:04:04.366 --> 00:04:06.186 A lot of the time when guys are asking, 00:04:06.186 --> 00:04:10.736 they just want job function: salary, hours you have to work. 00:04:11.186 --> 00:04:14.426 And for women, it's a lot more, "Tell me about the environment you work in. 00:04:14.426 --> 00:04:15.666 Tell me about who you work with. 00:04:15.706 --> 00:04:17.266 Tell me about how you work with them." 00:04:17.266 --> 00:04:20.375 And whenever the guest speakers come, I always ask guest speakers, 00:04:20.676 --> 00:04:24.596 "When you really got discouraged, when you got that 20 on that test in college 00:04:24.596 --> 00:04:28.096 that we all got once, when someone walks up to you and tells you, 00:04:28.096 --> 00:04:30.536 'What are you doing in this field?' 00:04:30.866 --> 00:04:34.196 When you have those really discouraging days, what keeps you going? 00:04:34.326 --> 00:04:38.786 Why did you keep on driving away when you were kind of going against the flow?" 00:04:39.306 --> 00:04:42.446 And it's very important for me to ask those questions, 00:04:42.446 --> 00:04:44.396 and the answer always comes back the same. 00:04:44.806 --> 00:04:48.436 It almost always comes back, "You know, I have a lot of good people in my life 00:04:48.436 --> 00:04:50.156 that told me, 'You're really good at this.' 00:04:50.776 --> 00:04:53.456 And that really outweighed the discouragement I got. 00:04:53.456 --> 00:04:56.136 And when I was questioning, 'Is this really what I want to do?' 00:04:56.406 --> 00:04:59.676 I'd have roommates or other friends say, "I see that in you, 00:04:59.676 --> 00:05:02.096 and it's really there, and you can't stop." 00:05:02.616 --> 00:05:07.376 I've stumbled on some really great resources for finding guest speakers. 00:05:07.476 --> 00:05:13.966 A lot of corporations have people within that corporation that regularly volunteer their time 00:05:13.966 --> 00:05:17.816 out as a public speaker for other schools or other organizations. 00:05:18.176 --> 00:05:21.746 But sometimes the organization itself doesn't even know who they all are 00:05:22.056 --> 00:05:25.226 because they're not always going out to represent that organization. 00:05:25.516 --> 00:05:29.496 Maybe it's a corporation of engineers, 00:05:29.736 --> 00:05:32.306 but they're actually representing some private society. 00:05:32.676 --> 00:05:35.166 And I think private societies are actually some of the best places 00:05:35.166 --> 00:05:39.316 to go look-that you would go look for the Engineering Society of America, 00:05:39.316 --> 00:05:44.176 or you would go to the Optical Society of America if you wanted to find someone in optics. 00:05:44.276 --> 00:05:48.806 And they would actually put you in touch with a local representative who would know about people 00:05:48.806 --> 00:05:54.496 within corporations around you who are working in your city who might be able to help you out. 00:05:54.706 --> 00:05:59.046 I think there's no doubt that some of the students that I know go on to major 00:05:59.046 --> 00:06:02.806 in engineering tell me that they really got a spark ignited 00:06:03.056 --> 00:06:06.556 when they saw a certain guest speaker come in. 00:06:07.036 --> 00:06:10.826 Or they decided, "Well maybe I could be an engineer. 00:06:10.826 --> 00:06:15.766 I'll tell you what, I'll try a little internship," or, "I'll be a volunteer 00:06:15.766 --> 00:06:17.416 at this engineering firm and just see what it's like." 00:06:17.666 --> 00:06:19.086 And all of a sudden they get turned on to it. 00:06:19.516 --> 00:06:23.256 And so there are definitely some students that I know that-both young men 00:06:23.256 --> 00:06:26.206 and young women-who have moved into those fields. 00:06:26.206 --> 00:06:34.626 Very STEM fields, whether it be architecture, whether it be physics, whether it be engineering 00:06:34.626 --> 00:06:36.216 or computer science-all those fields. 00:06:36.216 --> 00:06:39.806 I know students who have majored in them who have done so because they met someone 00:06:40.046 --> 00:06:45.436 who was doing it and they thought they just had the coolest job in the world.