As an all-girls school, Loretto Academy works hard to empower and acknowledge women in STEM fields. 

Injustice follows women all around the world, with a long history of being underestimated and shoved aside in careers that are more dominated by men, such as STEM fields. 

But this injustice does not stop Loretto women from accomplishing impressive things in STEM. 

On April 27th, Loretto opened the doors to the Little Theater to guest speaker and class of ‘87 alumnae, Laura O’Dell. 

O’Dell gave students a presentation about her path in science, her research projects and her awards. 

Her story inspired many girls in the audience, who couldn’t help but raise their hands and inquire all about her projects.

She also presented to elementary schoolers, by showing them a brain that they could observe and learn about, introducing them and giving them a light understanding of her field of study. 

Her field, neuroscience, fits in with the themes of the WiSE festival, hosted by Loretto Academy with a purpose of displaying the projects of its students. 

The girls from the science classes Loretto offers—physics, biology, chemistry, environmental science, and forensic science—displayed the projects they did for the science fair. 

Each project was an original idea, completely built and presented by the girls to judges from both Loretto Academy and El Paso Community College. 

Students presented their project to an audience of elementary schoolers and middle schoolers, displaying their accomplishment and findings on the topics they chose. 

Loretto Academy will continue to encourage their students to pursue careers in STEM, and to fight all of the bias that face women in male-dominated fields, giving them all of the support to succeed.