We constantly drew horses, excelled at our school work, and loved burek, a Croatian delicacy. But it wasn’t until I moved to Germany in third grade that our support systems in school began to drastically differ. I went to a DoDEA school where my teachers encouraged everyone equally to pursue whatever they liked. My other best friend at the time, Justyna, even went onto win our school’s science fair. However, Maja and her female peers were not always so equally encouraged to pursue their dreams. Although everyone was pushed to do well in their academic work, it was the boys who were always taken seriously when they expressed a dream in having a career in stem fields. Maja expressed to me that she had always wanted to be an architect She was completely capable and well gifted in math to pursue a career in architecture but, she always felt that as a girl she would not fit in. There was never anyone at school to inspire and encourage her to follow her dream. I found this incredibly frustrating because it is the hardest thing to sit and watch someone not pursue their dream only because of their gender. I offered to help her with whatever she needed to apply to colleges or simply gain insight into the array of opportunities she could have out of Croatia. But, no matter how much I tried to tell her that she could, she always told me to not “to be
We constantly drew horses, excelled at our school work, and loved burek, a Croatian delicacy. But it wasn’t until I moved to Germany in third grade that our support systems in school began to drastically differ. I went to a DoDEA school where my teachers encouraged everyone equally to pursue whatever they liked. My other best friend at the time, Justyna, even went onto win our school’s science fair. However, Maja and her female peers were not always so equally encouraged to pursue their dreams. Although everyone was pushed to do well in their academic work, it was the boys who were always taken seriously when they expressed a dream in having a career in stem fields. Maja expressed to me that she had always wanted to be an architect She was completely capable and well gifted in math to pursue a career in architecture but, she always felt that as a girl she would not fit in. There was never anyone at school to inspire and encourage her to follow her dream. I found this incredibly frustrating because it is the hardest thing to sit and watch someone not pursue their dream only because of their gender. I offered to help her with whatever she needed to apply to colleges or simply gain insight into the array of opportunities she could have out of Croatia. But, no matter how much I tried to tell her that she could, she always told me to not “to be