Lydia Dobyns

President Obama recently said,

One of the things that I really strongly believe in is that we need to have more girls interested in math, science and engineering. We’ve got half the population that is way underrepresented in those fields and that means that we’ve got a whole bunch of talent… that is not being encouraged.

Encouraging young women to join the ever-growing community of women who aspire to careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) requires positive role models, and an educational system that provides unbiased opportunity for all — one that emphasizes deeper learning skills like critical thinking, communication and collaboration to help students graduate high school “college- and career-ready.”

I first met Cindy Arteaga when she was a student at New Tech Network’s METSA (Math, Engineering, Technology and Science Academy) in Carrollton, Texas . Now a junior at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas, Cindy is pursuing civil engineering and mathematics degrees. She’s currently vice president of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers chapter at SMU.

Read the full blog at the Huffington Post.