During the lockdown of 2020, a group of middle school girls got together and began brainstorming about how to grow food on Mars.

They had to improvise and use household items like graham cracker crumbs and a hair dryer to imitate the dust storms found on Mars but ultimately, they were successful. They are now known by their peers and “The Galactic Girls.”

School counselor, John MacDonald, helped the girls with their project by connecting them to former director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Todd May. May believes the key to getting more women and girls interested in STEM is getting more mentors to help guide them.

“It's a matter of necessity at this point. You know, we need female engineers, we need female scientists, we need female astronauts because, you know, the demand for those jobs is as high as it's ever been,” said May, “And there is an untapped resource out there in women and underrepresented groups who are not choosing to take this path.”

Jennifer Roecklein-Canfield, professor of chemistry at Simmons University, who is on the board of the Massachusetts Stem Advisory Council and with Million Women Mentors, an organization focused on encouraging girls and women to pursue STEM careers, says it is a critical time to get girls involved in STEM disciplines.

“In middle school, when girls begin to question their self-confidence and begin to try to assimilate, liking science and math at this time is often an outlier and unless she has or sees strong women STEM role models, she will often start to move away from her interest in science and math,” Roecklein-Canfield said.