What were you doing at the age of nine? Larissa Vingilis-Jaremko was launching the Canadian Association of Girls in Science, a national non-profit that works to facilitate an interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Larissa recognized at an early age that too many barriers exist for girls to explore their love of science, often leading to a decrease in science class enrolment. When CAGIS was launched, it was the first organization of its kind and, to this day, Larissa leads the organization, helping change perceptions and spark passions. For her work, Larissa has won numerous awards, including being named as one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women, and has advised government panels and roundtables on equality, education and science.
We caught up with Larissa in downtown Toronto to better understand why the science community needs more female leaders and why one young person can change the world for the better through science.
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What do you think?
- What did you learn from Larissa’s story – as a youth leader and as a scientist?
- Do you agree that to understand science, we all need to better understand the scientific process of inquiry?
- Should rigorously peer reviewed science be the gold standard by which we judge a scientific study? Or is it a process that still needs reforming?
- How can we spark more scientific questions that offer up rigorously tested solutions to the challenges facing nature?
- Do we need to keep evolving how we define a scientist?
- Do we need to help more people, with non-linear career paths and backgrounds, see themselves as scientists?
- Should we do a better job of breaking down the barriers between science and other disciplines?