The free talent program for high school girls was a success

STEMpowered by CETIN supports career orientation by developing skills essential for conscious career planning, giving participating girls in grades 10-12 a sense of success. The experience of the previous program year was that the development of skills that are useful in real life (soft skills) is the most useful for students, which do not receive sufficient attention in the classical school system. Therefore, the organizers of the program focused most of their attention on this issue this season. The girls were able to develop their self-awareness, creativity and communication skills through group sessions, and were assisted in career guidance by institutional visits and CETIN staff.

The success of the program was also confirmed by a survey conducted among the participants. The girls’ self-awareness improved significantly: it became clearer to them in which areas they performed well and in what they needed to improve. They also gained self-confidence in implementing projects – they had the opportunity to practice this several times during the program – and by the end of the school year, they felt more able to compare their knowledge with others in areas in which they were confident.

A novelty of this year’s program was that a “class teacher” helped to build team cohesion and supported the smooth running of the program. In addition, experienced and expert CETIN colleagues (“buddies”) introduced the students to the everyday life of real STEM careers during career discussions. At the end of the program, participants were able to present their experiences and what they had learned in a creative competition. The four winners of the competition – first, second and shared third place – received valuable cash prizes.