And I also appreciated how school could be an outlet, a way to de-stress from a bad round of golf. I could immerse myself in my engineering work and forget negative thoughts from my golf game. Now as a professional, golf is my priority, but I still love being an ambassador for organizations that promote STEM. The work keeps the engineering part of me alive.

To get involved with STEM during my professional golf career, I decided to team up with ‘Let’s Talk Science’ and ‘Golf in Schools’, to be an ambassador for the programs and a role model for students. I want to show kids, especially young girls, that it is cool to love and study STEM while also being an athlete or pursuing other interests. Initiatives like these, and others like ‘Girls Who Code’, are excellent at breaking the stigma surrounding STEM and girls. I spoke at the Canada 2020 Youth Summit in Calgary about the role and benefits of STEM knowledge for athletes. I hope to continue role modeling for young girls and working with these programs.

STEM is the way of the future. It makes up such a large part of the job picture already. For kids, there are so many opportunities in STEM related work. I grew up during a period when it wasn’t as common for girls to participate in STEM related courses or jobs. I was one of the few girls that chose physics in high school, and one of only two girls to be in the math club. I want to spread the message that it’s cool to love science and math, and it’s not just for boys.