Ten strategies for recruiting more girls and underrepresented youth into your engineering programs.

1. Make a commitment and set goals. Begin by looking at the enrollment in your engineering class or after-school club. If you aren’t attracting as many girls as boys, set a goal that will help you make and measure progress. Approach this work like you would an engineer design challenge; research and brainstorm strategies, measure progress, and redesign and innovate to build upon what works to bring in more girls.
2. “Teachers should shake the trees and reach out to more kinds of students, not just the student who's doing well in math.” I like this advice from Dan Garcia, a computer scientist at U.C. Berkeley who developed the massive open online course, Beauty and Joy of Computing course.  Be explicit and ask for teachers’ help to recruit a wide range of girls—not just those who already have an interest in engineering or who are the top students in math class.
3. Be mindful of your messaging. When we change how we talk about engineering, we can change what girls think about engineering. Research supported by the National Academy of Engineering proposes the following messages that can help recruit more girls: Engineers are creative problem-solvers; engineers make a world of difference; engineers help shape the future; and engineering is essential to our health, happiness, and safety.
4. Know your audience and create marketing content that is culturally responsive to the interests of your target group. The College Board offers helpful suggestions to tailor your materials and messages to be relevant to youth and their families.
5. Partner with school and community groups who can advocate for your program with families; be especially mindful of groups who are under-represented in engineering. At one of Techbridge’s schools a teacher talked with the parents of every African-American fourth grader in the spring, strongly encouraging them to enroll their daughters in Techbridge the following school year. Results were very positive. Find your champion who can influence parents and support their daughters’ participation in your program. Be sure to recognize their efforts and successes.
6. Make recruitment interactive. Take a lesson from DIY Girls; don’t tell girls what your program is about instead let them experience it. DIY Girls hosts recruitment workshops during the school day that consist of a hands-on experience so that every girl gets to see what the program has to offer.
7. Use the power of peers. Invite girls who have gone through your program to recruit for your class or club. Peer pressure can be positive and compelling. Invite girls to show-and-tell their experiences. Check out the video created by Technovation in which alumnae share their stories. Wouldn’t you be inspired to get involved in a program like this if you could?
8. Partner with organizations that work with girls like Girl Scouts and Girls Inc. They’ve got the girls and are looking for opportunities to support their girls in engineering. Techbridge developed programs-in-a-box with engineering projects used with Girl Scout councils.
9. Make it easy (or at least easier) for youth to participate in your program if it’s outside the school day or away from school. Take a lesson from Black Girls Code which arranges for transportation to and from places in the community that are convenient to families when weekend workshops are hosted at corporate sites.
10. Consider holding a course just for girls. This approach has met with success for some Project Lead the Way programs. Williard Davidson High School outside of Columbus, Ohio, started a Women in Engineering program in partnership with The Ohio State University. The all-girls Introduction to Engineering Design class met with considerable success and significantly increased the number of females enrolling in their coed classes.  

I hope that you find these strategies helpful in recruiting more girls and underrepresented youth into your engineering programs. Let’s share our successes and challenges. LinkEngineering can help you connect with other educators working in engineering at the K-16 level to partner with and learn from. Together we can welcome more girls in engineering.