When Tara Chklovski immigrated to the United States from India when she was 21, she brought with her desires to be a pilot or aerospace engineer. Upon her arrival, one thing became very clear to Chklovski: women in the U.S. weren't as excited about STEM careers as women in India were. She told Ariel Schwartz of Co.EXIST, "It's more culturally accepted to have shopping as a hobby than to have tinkering as a hobby."
So in 2006, Chklovski started Iridescent, a science and engineering education non-profit that has been getting girls and young women excited about STEM careers. Just this month, the organization announced the winner of its four-year-old, $10,000 (yes, $10,000) Technovation Challenge, a twelve-week competition for middle and high school girls. This year, participants were asked to come up with an app that "solves a problem in their local community."
Applicants came from all over the world, including places like Brazil and Nigeria, but the majority of the finalists came from the U.S. There were 114 teams and 600 girls that entered.
The winning team were a group of six girls from Nightingale-Bamford School in New York City. The team came up with an Android app titled "Arrive" that enables students to "check-in" to school when they arrive. The app has potential and could be used as an option in addition to traditional check-in systems like ID cards.
Check out their pitch video:
Read Schwartz's full article on the competition, the winners and Chklovski's overall goals.
