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100 people came to the College ’ s Kilmarnock Campus to hear Sarah Murray , NASA HQs Council Executive / Mission Support and Partnership Councils , demonstrate how she showed extraordinary perseverance in dealing with sexual and racial prejudice on her way to a 25-year career at NASA .
One of the most hard-hitting points of her presentation was about her own education . Comparing answers with a male student in her university study group , Sarah realised she had the same answers as him but was given a significantly lower score . When she reached out to her lecturer for a change of grade , she was bluntly told “ women do not belong in engineering .”
Despite this , Sarah carved out an incredible career at NASA , where she has been responsible for astronaut training , space walks and robotics , among other key roles . She shared techniques to build up resilience and encouraged existing STEM employees in the audience to act as mentors to any students in attendance .
Dr Philippa Whitford , MP for Central Ayrshire , shared her story of becoming a surgeon . She was also told she could not do it because of her gender . Everyone was inspired by what they heard at Girls with Grit , the latest in the College ’ s # ThisAyrshireGirlCan campaign to tackle the gender gap in STEM .
Jackie Galbraith , Vice Principal at Ayrshire College , said “ It was inspiring to hear Sarah and Philippa sharing their stories with an audience that was aged between 10 and 70 . We ’ re on a mission to ensure that girls and women see the potential of careers in STEM and remove any obstacles that stand in their way .”
Sarah Murray said “ The phrase ‘ Girls with Grit ’ absolutely describes girls and women in STEM related fields , because you need to have grit to be successful .”
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