MATT Construction x DIY Girls: Encouraging the Innovators and Problem Solvers of Tomorrow

This past month, some of MATT’s Senior Project Engineers, Kelly Holahan, Lucy Egbe and Stephanie Martinez, had the opportunity to present to the young females of DIY Girls about pursuing a career in STEM, and more specifically, in the field of construction. As a proud sponsor of DIY Girls, MATT was very excited to be able to connect and interact with students from the organization for the second year in a row.

This year, MATT’s group presented to the 5th-grade students of O’Melveny Elementary. After speaking with students about each of their journeys to higher education and the construction industry, Kelly, Lucy and Stephanie presented high-level overviews of projects they’ve worked on. Having each experienced building exciting and complex projects throughout Los Angeles, the women had great insight to share about what it’s like to work in construction and contribute to the built environment of a city.

To make the session more interactive, our Senior Project Engineers created a construction-themed word scrabble for the students to help familiarize them with common construction tools. The first two students to unscramble all the words correctly were rewarded with Jamba Juice gift cards from the MATT team.

Some takeaways the students shared after the presentation:

– “I learned that buildings can be made circular [dome] shaped out of many materials,” said Heather.

– “I learned buildings can be very tall and sturdy. Not like building LEGOS that can fall over,” said Aleksa.

– “I learned new words… the circular saw and excavator,” said Gabriella.

Currently, women represent just 28% of the overall employed scientists and engineers in the United States, of which women of color represent only 5%. DIY Girls is working to change this by exposing girls to STEAM at a young age and changing their perspectives about careers in tech. MATT is a proud sponsor of DIY Girls and hopes to make a difference in our industry by supporting powerful organizations like DIY Girls.