Diverse women inspire Gunn girls to envision life past college

From Advanced Placement classes, to standardized tests and homework assignments, the lives of Palo Alto high school students often seem to be on a one-way ticket to college. The problem with this singular focus is it often leaves young people- especially girls- scratching their heads about what they will do when they graduate.

Yet there is no lack of savvy local female professionals who can bring their diverse experiences to help teens gain exposure to the many career paths available to them. A Gunn High School, a club called Girls Learn International decided to tackle this problem by recruiting women to speak to the students about their career paths.

Panel offers diverse perspectives for aspiring girls

GLI recently hosted a Professional Women’s Speaker Panel, where women in jobs including law, business, education, health technology and humanitarian work provided insight about their career experiences and offered advice for female high school students. The speakers were:

Lee Tan: Associate Director and Patent lawyer at Genentech, a biotechnology corporation
Carol L. Booth, the Founder and Director of the Jewish Baby Network, a non-profit organization working to connect Jewish families in the Bay Area.
Rasha ElSayed, is a Program Evaluator who previously worked in international development with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
Kirsten Daehler, is the Director of the Making Sense of SCIENCE project at WestEd, a national non-profit organization working to better the quality of education
Yin Lin Leung, is the Cofounder and the Chief Strategy Officer of Applied Research Works, a health technology company with offices in India, Hawaii and Palo Alto.

Women share ‘zig zaggy’ career paths and tough challenges

The student moderators, Gunn GLI President Sakshi Satpathy and Vice-President Danika Heaney, asked the speakers to share what they like about their professions, times when they faced discrimination as women, and advice they would give the Gunn students.

Describing their “zig-zaggy” life journeys, the diverse panel recounted changing careers, moving across the world and country, learning from peers and mentors, the effect of marriage and motherhood on professional life, and fun facts their careers.

The panelists also shared their challenges as women, including teachers who did not believe their math aptitude, offensive pregnancy jokes from co-workers, lack of infrastructure for working mothers, and the difficulty of asking for a pay raise.

Their advice? Self advocacy, networks and life skills matter more than any one career path

Advice for the girls included always asking for opportunities, networking and utilizing connections, tips for choosing a college (including the value of a women’s college), and how to gain life knowledge that would transcend to a single career or field.

Girls come away from the panel inspired and informed

“I enjoyed hearing the experiences of the different women in their careers,” said Autumn Moulios, a junior. “It really broadened my perspective as to how the world works outside of high school. For example, I hadn’t really considered a women’s college before I listened to someone who had gone to one talk about its benefits.”

Solene Bonnet also enjoyed the event, saying: “I learned a lot and it helped me realize things that I do in my life. For example…it really hit me how much I don’t ask for opportunities in fear of being rejected or not realizing I can do it.” This thought was echoed by Isabella Phillips, who remarked, “I feel the thing I really got out from the event was how much I need to self advocate…”

Gunn girls envisioned the event

Gunn High Schools’ Girls Learn International Club is a chapter of a national organization whose mission is to “educate and energize students in the global movement for girls’ access to education.” This club meets every alternate Monday lunch to learn about, discuss and advocate for human rights, especially for women and minorities.