On January 20th, Margot Lee Shetterly, author of the now major motion picture and number one bestselling book, Hidden Figures, came to the Stanley Theatre in Utica, New York, courtesy of local nonprofit Project Fibonacci. This was the first event in their Women & STEAM Speaker Series that will help to encourage young women to pursue careers in STEAM fields.
Hidden Figures tells the story of four incredible women that worked for NASA during the Civil Rights Era. Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn, Christine Darden (not in the film), and Mary Jackson used their brilliant minds to help NASA to send John Glenn into orbit during a time period when they weren't even allowed to use the same bathrooms as Caucasian Americans. These three incredible women, along with countless others, helped pave the way for future generations of African American women in not only NASA, but in all STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) fields.
The film has a star-studded cast including Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, and Kirsten Dunst. In the box-office, Hidden Figures outsold Rogue One... And did so in 200 less theaters. While Rogue One tells the story of fictional heroes in a galaxy far-far away, Hidden Figures tells the story of real-life heroes and is inspirational for people of all walks of life.
Shetterly gave an excellent speech about the importance of these women and the need to study history in a way that captures it in it's entirety, not just an overview of the main events. These women payed a pivotal role in an event that many of of us have heard of, yet most of us only knew about the event and not the math and people behind the scenes. Without the work of the exceptional women that worked in Langley, John Glenn would not have been able to orbit the Earth when he did.
The Project Fibonacci Foundation is a nonprofit based on the encouragement of STEAM education.
"The ultimate goal of Project Fibonacci is to promote the next wave of young scholars and productive citizens by positively motivating and enlightening them," says founder Andrew Drozd.
The nonprofit foundation holds a conference in the summer called the Project Fibonacci STEAM Conference that allows young scholars to participate in a week-long educational, yet interactive, program with some of the brightest STEAM professionals.
Project Fibonacci's main goal is to, "use STEAM education as a catalyst for economic and workforce development," according to STEAM Outreach Coordinator, Dan Kostelec.
Upcoming Project Fibonacci speakers include Dr. Barbara Berebichez and Dr. Mishio Kaku. Be on the lookout for more event information.
