Her Story
About Darci
I have been in education ever since I graduated college, teaching for 23 years now. I decided my sophomore year of college to become a science teacher because I knew that would be where my passion would lie. I definitely had a passion for STEM professions and wanted to go somewhere in that direction, and I decided that the biggest impact I could make was probably to influence others to actually pursue STEM professions as well. My main area of expertise is influencing the younger generation to go into and explore STEM professions through an educational context, as well as building my own lifelong learning and skill sets in biotechnology. I continue to build my own bench skill set so that I can help the students, because if I stop learning myself, then they're going to ask what the point is. If I'm not passionate about it, then why should they be passionate about it? I also focus on professional development and curriculum development, sharing that passion through sessions and conferences and workshops so that other teachers and students can share with their students the interest, the engagement, and the inspiration that they could all find through STEM learning.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Darci
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say, just follow your dreams and just persist. Don't stop, keep pushing. Don't get frustrated, look at failure as just a reason to kind of reflect and learn from something, and kind of maybe pivot, switch gears, and keep following your dreams. I'm just reminding students to keep their minds open to whatever passions that they are wanting to pursue, and don't get discouraged. Just keep on pushing, and keep on asking questions, and keep searching for that person who's going to help them make the connections that they need, and to inspire them. And to help them, like, if it's a matter of understanding and being challenged in learning, like, finding that person who's going to help them learn in a very special way that's going to make sense to them. But personally persisting is my biggest point of advice.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges that I see right now is I definitely see a challenge where I'm trying to narrow the gap between the haves and the have-nots. The students who are underrepresented, the students who don't have as many resources, the inequity in the STEM professions that we see, because typically if we look at certain professions, they have typical genders or typical race or ethnicities or backgrounds. We're trying to change that. So, as much as possible, trying to engage students and make them aware of careers as much as possible, so that they feel confident in going into a STEM profession, so that we can kind of make the STEM profession more diverse. Right now it's pretty homogenous, it's getting better, it's moving towards more diversity, and we're trying to promote that, but there are some students with certain backgrounds that they don't feel like they can achieve that type of profession, and they decide not to go into that type of profession because they don't think it's gonna be something suitable for them. But to show them that, yes, you can do it. Yes, you can be a scientist, you can be a researcher, you can go into healthcare, you can be a doctor if you want to. Like, it just takes effort, it's a matter of exploration, it's a matter of making connections, it's a matter of finding that mentor who's going to inspire you to reach the level that you want to reach. Just making sure that we're promoting that diversity and equity in STEM professions is one of the biggest challenges that I see. And we're moving in the right direction, but there's still work to be done.
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