IndyINTEGIRLS works to bridge the gender gap in STEM

By AMY ADAMS
news@readthereporter.com

Integral.

Merriam-Webster defines the word as “essential to completeness.”

In her freshman year at Carmel High School, Sophia Fu found math competitions and camps to be far from “complete” in terms of gender representation.

“I did a lot of math competitions in elementary and middle school,” Fu said. “There was a lack of women, women-identifying, and people of different kinds of gender backgrounds. As a student who was a girl, it often made me feel isolated. I also noticed that there were a lot of my friends who wanted to participate in math competitions, but they didn’t necessarily believe in themselves.”

Rather than stepping back in intimidation, Fu stepped up.

“It inspired me to take action in my own community to encourage girls and gender identities to pursue math at the next level,” Fu said.

The result was the birth of IndyINTEGIRLS.

“Integrals is a math term and a really widely used concept in calculus,” Fu said. “INTEGIRLS is a play on words.”

The name IndyINTEGIRLS pays homage to the fact that it began in the Indianapolis area. However, the organization, not associated with CHS, has grown beyond the city in the nearly three years since its inception and now has officers and members from all over Indiana.

One way IndyINTEGIRLS strives to reach its goal of empowering and supporting women and gender minorities in STEM is by hosting math competitions twice a year, one in person and one online. The online competitions are open to out-of-state and international students as well. To date, IndyINTEGIRLS’ competitions have hosted more than 1,000 students from 25 countries, according to Fu.

In addition to competitions, IndyINTEGIRLS seeks to help women and gender minorities interested in STEM reach their full potential by providing opportunities and creating networking connections through its website and social media platforms, including a Discord server. Having reached more than 200,000 people, the organization’s online platforms produce educational content and offer free STEM help.

IndyINTEGIRLS has also garnered more than $50,000 in corporate sponsorships, with the largest being from Lilly and MiTek.

The next step for IndyINTEGIRLS will be to launch a mentoring program. At present, most of the IndyINTEGIRLS members are in middle school to early college.

“For me, as a high school student, what’s been really important to me is having women in STEM who are older than me who I can look to,” Fu said. “The idea of mentorship is really valuable to everyone.”

As a senior at CHS, Fu isn’t quite sure what she wants to study in college, but statistics and electrical engineering are among her top choices. However, she does know that she wants to continue her work with IndyINTEGIRLS.

To learn more about the organization and how you can get involved, visit IndyINTEGIRLS.org.