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How a Stereotype-Smashing Teen Founded the First All-Girl Muslim Robotics Team

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Date: 31 Jul 2018 | By: Wendy McMahon | Story Source: EdSurge ~ Go to Original Article

What can a 15-year-old from Chino Hills, CA do to help break down barriers and smash stereotypes? Zaina Siyed answered that question by creating the FemSTEM Robotics Scholarship Program, a free STEM program for Muslim girls aged 10 to 14.

In 2016, Siyed was fed up with never seeing girls—especially Muslim girls like herself—competing in the robotics challenges she loved so much. Equally frustrating, she rarely saw positive representations of Muslim women in the media.

So Siyed hatched a plan: she would teach her peers herself. She hung flyers, started a Facebook page and approached mothers in her community—explaining the benefits of STEM education. She secured weekly use of a local prayer room and


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