LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Eighth-grade girls in Arkansas got to learn more about STEAM on Friday from an astronaut and former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

The Girls of Promise conference gave girls the opportunity to get a hands-on experience with science, technology, engineering, and math through activities such as coding and robotics.

The keynote speaker was Dr. Ellen Ochoa who was the first Latina in space. She taught the girls that anything is possible. 

“The mission is to empower girls to know that they have opportunities,” Katie Story-Hogue Girls of Promise Conference Chair says. “Especially girls from rural areas and persistent poverty counties around Arkansas to know that there is opportunity, and they can do whatever they want to do.”

Girls of Promise is a mission of the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas – to create equality for women through economics and philanthropic investment.

For more information, head on over to the Girls of Promise website.