Seven outstanding female high school juniors from Kirkland gathered with family and friends at a reception at the Lake Washington School District Administration Building in Redmond on March 6 to accept accolades from the Kirkland-Redmond Branch of AAUW. Altogether, district schools chose twenty young women as their outstanding female students to be honored for their excellence in Science, Technology, or Math.

The STEM honorees, who live in or attend school in Kirkland included, from Emerson High School: Dara Nitschke, Science; Abigail Prendergast, Technology and Math; from Juanita High School: Kendall Stern, Science; Shawdi Mehrvarzan, Technology; and Laura Chen, Math; from International Community School: Olga Korohod, Math; and from Lake Washington High School: Jun Tu, Science; and Delaney Norman, Math.

The young women received a certificate of recognition and a gift to recognize their achievement. Alexandra Lucas, a writer, designer, musician, and DigiPen graduate spoke to the honorees about her passion for creating games that explore the vast human experience. With education in French, English, and creative writing she showed that it is possible to include other interests and experience with a technical career in the game industry. She encouraged the young women to continue taking advantage of STEM learning opportunities and yet to incorporate their other interests.

AAUW nationally supports equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy and research. Locally, the Kirkland-Redmond Branch organizes the High School STEM Scholars Program; supports Tech Trek, a one-week summer immersion STEM camp for 8th grade girls; provides a Cascadia Community College scholarship for a woman returning to school after an absence; and organizes and works at the annual spring Expanding Your Horizons Career Conference for middle school girls at Bellevue College. For more information on the Kirkland-Redmond Branch of AAUW, visit AAUW-Kirkland-Redmond Branch on Facebook.