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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Girls who enjoy science, technology, engineering and math are growing up in a world filled with new opportunities.

Bridget Sheriff is the vice president of engineering for the Interiors Business Unit at Collins Aerospace in Winston-Salem.

She believes showing girls what STEM careers look like can make the industries stronger overall.

For the first time, Collins Aerospace participated in a new kind of outreach this past February.

“Around the world, Collins Aerospace interfaced with about a thousand 13-year-old girls in all of our different locations and we participated in this event called ‘Introduce a Girl to Engineering,’” Sheriff said.

“Here in Winston Salem, we had over 70 girls and we interfaced with five different schools.”

The girls participated in labs and other activities.

They were also able to speak directly with female engineers about their careers.

Sheriff says reaching out to girls, particularly in the range of 10 to 12 years old, is an investment toward future innovation.

“Our next innovators and our next inventors are going to look different than they did in the past.” Sheriff said. “They will represent all of our demographics. They’ll be girls, they’ll be Hispanic, they’ll be African American, and bringing those different ideas together and people from different backgrounds will really allow us to make that next really cool thing.”

Collins Aerospace plans to participate in ‘Introduce a Girl to Engineering’ again, but next time, the company wants to expand beyond Winston-Salem.

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