The first African-American woman in space, Dr. Mae Jemison, in collaboration with Life Science Company Bayer, and Youth Development Organization National 4-H Council, has taken charge of exposing kids to the importance of STEM topics ― science, technology, engineering, and math.

The project called “Science Matters” is an initiative to encourage kids of all ages and backgrounds to pursue agricultural science. A physician and chemical engineer, Jemison is aware that the field of agricultural science seems intimidating, and it is the said perception that she has set out to change.

Digging into agricultural science can be as simple as asking, “Where does my food come from?” An increasingly popular way to kick-start this sort of interest is through urban gardens, Jemison explained. Talking about the importance of bringing more children into STEM topics like agricultural science, Jemison shared with Huffington Post, “But that isn’t enough, diversity is imperative, especially for women and people of color, groups underrepresented in these fields. It’s not about just making girls continuously jump over the hurdles that we put in front of them. It’s about us taking those hurdles down. We’re losing talent and we’re losing capability by not including them.”

She further commented, “when people think about why it is important to have a diversity of talent in a field, they think of it as a nicety. No, it’s a necessity. We get better solutions”.

Jemison advocates for agricultural science in the classroom and teachers agree that it’s a valuable goal. According to a survey conducted by Bayer and the National 4-H Council, more than 80 percent of 1,640 high school science teachers said they think it’s important to include agricultural science in their lesson plans. Only about half of the teachers feel qualified to teach the subject, however.

The good news is that out of the 1,004 parents surveyed by Bayer and 4-H, more than 75 percent wanted their kids (aged 13 to 17) to see agricultural science as exciting and interesting. In response to which, Sirangelo encouraged parents to consider devoting as much time to their kids’ science activities as they do for their sports, while Jemison talked about the importance of making sure teachers feel comfortable teaching these ideas in the classroom.

She reminded parents to teach their girls that it’s OK to pursue their interests, even if they’re typically not marketed to women. “Spend as much time with them on curriculum science and other things that [you] would spend on helping them get their nails and hair done,” she said. “It’s OK to get dirty. Sometimes, in order to make a good mud pie, you gotta get dirty.”

We sure can’t disagree, and as Jemison rightly put it, kids need to be prepared “to not just survive, but thrive”.

H/T : Huffington Post