High School Outreach: Building Our Future

87% of academic economists are men. 68% of first year doctorate students in economics are men. Only one woman has won a Nobel Prize in economics. The fix is in: women are grievously underrepresented in the world of economics. So what is UW-WE to do? Tackle it head on, of course. Through the hard work of a dedicated team headed by our professional outreach chairwoman, Emma Lai, UW-WE has developed a targeted program to help reach out to high school students to educate them on the endless possibilities presented by the field of economics.

The high school outreach program is based on a few guiding principles: prior interest, education, and empowerment. By targeting students with interests in mathematics, history, psychology, and other social sciences, UW-WE's High School Outreach Program (HSOP) is able to seek out students who demonstrate the skills, intrigue, and devotion of future economists. Next, these students partake in an interactive, in-classroom presentation from UW-WE speakers, who provide them with the details and stories of their experiences, struggles, and dreams as real-life students of economics. And even after UW-WE has left the classroom, we encourage them to reach out to any of our members for the help, answers, or advice that will set them on the road to success as future economists.

While our presentations include all students in a classroom, male or female, we have realized that simply seeing an example of female role models in the field of economics serves a small yet crucial part in closing the gender gap. By extending to young women the full resources and support of a female-empowering student organization, we hope to provide them guidance and courage as they continue to build their future. Just as I looked up to leaders like Lindsey, Alexa, Emma, Grace, Liz, and Sara at my first meeting as a freshman at UW-WE, I know that hundreds of other young women will benefit from the strong, bright role models who are the spokeswomen of this organization.

The road may not be smooth: there will be hitches in execution and difficult questions to be answered. We can educate, we can empower- but it is the recipients of HSOP that will truly make the difference. As FDR so wisely once said, "We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future." So that is what we do: educate, empower, and lay the groundwork for the future female economists of our world.

Emma Lai, third from left, High School Outreach Program Chair, speaking with the executive board to UW-WE