Abstract:

As the Girls Excelling in Mathematics club that Laura Reasoner Jones started has the chance to go national on a big scale, she thinks about vision big and small.

Jones, L.R. (2004). I believe I am ready to fly. Teacher Leaders Network diaries. Retrieved from the Teacher Leaders Network 11 Apr 2008. Link: http://www.teacherleaders.org/old_site/diaries04_05/LJ04_04_05.html

Full Text:

I Believe I Am Ready to Fly

"When there is no vision, the people perish." — Proverbs 29:18

This has nothing to do with religion. But that proverb has always been one of my favorites because it was an integral part of one of my favorite book series. And because I have seen that my smallness of vision can be a huge weakness.

Ten years ago, I started something for my daughter that has grown slowly into an avocation that brings me many opportunities to change the lives of girls. Yesterday, however, someone else with vision asked me to take my idea and make it grow into something that I have only ever dreamed of, and frankly, have been a little afraid of.

When I started the GEMS club (Girls Excelling in Mathematics) for my daughter Julie ten years ago, she was going into the fifth grade. She had refused to attend the new magnet school because she said "Math is hard, Mom." Well, I knew math wasn't hard for her—she had good grades and good test scores, but that was her perception. So, I started a girls-only after-school math/science club at her elementary school. This led to a multi-year, published action research project, an AAUW Educational Foundation grant, the creation of an award-winning video designed to encourage girls in math, science, and technology, and the $100,00 NSF grant to distribute the video. And my little club keeps trucking along, even though Julie is now a sophomore in college and not going into engineering, as I had hoped.

But those results have nothing to do with my vision. They just happened, or at least that's how it seems. My vision was small—help 5th and 6th grade girls see that math and science are fun and something they should consider for courses to take and careers to pursue. It was a worthy vision, but small.

Over the years, many people have said to me, "Why don't you write a grant and take this idea public?" I was afraid to do that. I can manage small local things but I do not want to be responsible for a huge amount of grant money. I did finally create a Web site (www.gemsclub.org) and wrote a grant for Lego™ Robotics kits and K'Nex™ materials because I could not afford these out of my own pocket. But now everything has changed.

Yesterday I spoke with a woman, an engineer, from a multi-billion dollar aeronautic and IT company. She heard me speak to parents at one of our GEMS conferences where we match up girls with adult mentors in math/science/technology fields for a morning of hands-on activities and conversation. Her company wants to take my GEMS club idea and create a nationwide network of these clubs for young girls under the auspices of developing the future workforce for companies like hers. This is so big I can hardly stand it. I had the vision, small though it was, and they have the resources to make it grow.

One of my favorite T-shirts says "Dorothy had the shoes, but she didn't have the vision. Take the controls. Women Fly™." I'm a bit stunned by this amazing development. The old feelings haven't completely gone away. But this time I believe I am ready to take off.

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