Eastside Student Selected as Ambassador for Young Women in Bio
AUSTIN – Marith Diaz, an 11th grade student enrolled at Eastside Early College High School has been named as Texas Ambassador for the Young Women in Bio (YWIB) program. Diaz is one of 24 high school females from the United States and Canada to serve as ambassadors for YWIB and bring attention to the need for more females to pursue college and career paths in areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). According to YWIB, female leaders demonstrated leadership among their peers, and will seek to carry out the mission of YWIB to promote STEM in their school, their community, and encourage other females to pursue STEM tracks from high school and beyond.
As part of the second class of YWIB Ambassadors, Diaz will attend nationally led virtual events and when possible, in-person events and programs hosted by the local YWIB chapter. She will have the opportunity to actively engaged with YWIB, both locally and nationally, and develop educational content and events to encourage and inspire young women like herself to pursue careers in STEM.
YWIB Ambassadors are females who are interested in STEM focuses and will aid YWIB in bringing this attention to more females. The Young Women in Bio (YWIB) program is an initiative created to support the interest of young women interested in learning more about STEM college majors and possible careers in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. YWIB chapters, represented in the United States and Canada collaborates with many organizations, hospitals, companies and universities to host motivational programs to support young females interested in STEM.
Diaz is currently ranked fourth (4th) in her class with a GPA of 4.13 and is a member of the National Honor Society, Eastside ECHS Cross Country track team, and was awarded the Trustees Leadership Award in 2020. She was a summer intern with Eco-Rise and participated in the Eastside ECHS Summer Leadership Institute during summer 2021. She is a native of El Salvador, arriving in the United States only 3 years ago to begin her education. Her parents are Victorina Diaz and Andres Rivera. She explained her long-term goal is to become involved in politics and become a Congresswoman. In the meantime, she found a strong interest in engineering and explained, “I am excited about YWIB and hope to meet other young ladies who are also interested in STEM”. She said she has been listening regularly to a podcast entitled “Engines of our Ingenuity” and this helped to stimulate her interest to pursue STEM related pathways. She had previously taken courses in Engineering, participated in special projects during her enrollment at Eastside ECHS and said this also helped her to learn more about STEM topics and possible college majors and careers.
Diaz will be mentored by Dr. Micaela Vargas, a faculty member of Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, as well as her teachers and supporters at Eastside Early College High School during her tenure as Texas Ambassador.