OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Women account for just over a quarter of all STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers. A young woman from Papillion would love to see that stat change.
Brynnleigh Weaver is a sophomore at Missouri University of Science and Technology. She's studying civil engineering and recently received the Girl Scout Gold Award.
"The original goal behind my project was to get more girls interested in STEM," Weaver said.
She created STEM kits now on permanent display at the Sump Memorial Library in Papillion. Weaver purposely included kits that do not have a correct answer or one way of doing them because she wanted the children to be able to learn and grow with them.
"I didn't want them to feel like it was a confining/restraining thing that you had to be doing," said Weaver, who wants the children to be creative while learning.
She also donated books related to STEM and used grid paper to design building plans to be used with blocks.
"I was blown away by such a young person coming forward with an idea like that because that's an idea I strongly believe in," said Kelly Warehime, the youth services manager at the library.