INL's 9th Annual My Amazing Future Event

VO: -- IDAHO FALLS – I’m Natalia Hepworth in Idaho Falls with the Idaho National Laboratory at the My Amazing Future Event. Eighth grade girls from all over east Idaho come to get hands on experience in the sciences.

SOT: “It’s really exciting you see them come alive and just engage with us,” Brian Ziel marketing specialist with Mountain View Hospital said.

VO: Girls are selected through their schools to be apart of the all day event. They have the chance to participate in different sessions that feature chemistry, biology, communication, engineering and math.

SOT: “There really is something to be said about getting the girls out of the classrooms once in a while and putting a power drill in there hand and a bone in the other, and letting them just practice,” Ziel said.

VO: So far the girls have given positive feedback about their experience.

SOT: “It’s shows younger women that they’re capable of more than what they think they can do, and that they have an opportunity to be more outgoing than they think they should be,” eighth grade participant Taylor Thornton said.

VO: Michelle Bingham INL manager of university partnerships says this event is great for young women interested in these fields.

VO: “There really is a shortage of women in the STEM fields, and so we really wanted to have this program that’s focused on the young women,” Bingham said.

SOT: “Really what we want to do is just inspire the girls to look at different careers and different areas that they can go into as it touches in STEM,” Michelle Bingham said.

STANDUP: To learn more about STEM events go to INL.gov. Reporting from Idaho Falls, I’m Natalia Hepworth, EastIdahoNews.com