Marvel Launches “Girls Reforming the Future Challenge” for Teenaged STEM Innovators
In association with the run-up to Captain America: Civil War, Marvel has launched a STEM challenge geared at teenaged girls between the ages of 15 and 18. If you’re a teen girl who’s been building a cool project for school or just for fun — anything in the realm of science, tech, engineering, and/or math — Marvel encourages you to apply, so long as your project has “the potential to benefit humankind.” It doesn’t have to be as complicated as, say, building a Rescue suit in your bedroom — but if you’re doing that, you should definitely apply.
Marvel’s guidelines for submitting a project explain how to apply: “submit a short video demonstrating and explaining the benefits of your project, how STEM helped you develop the project, and why you would like an internship at MARVEL STUDIOS.” By the way, the potential to earn an internship at Marvel is one of the prizes:
Five finalists will be selected and each will:
- Receive a $500 High Yield Savings account from Synchrony Bank.
- Receive a trip to Hollywood, California for the finalist and a parent or legal guardian for the opportunity to present their project to leaders in science and industry at MARVEL STUDIOS.
- Will participate in a live global Broadcom Masters webinar during which they will discuss how their STEM skills enabled them to create their projects.
- Have the opportunity to walk the red carpet at the World Premiere of MARVEL’S CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR on April 12, 2016.
- Receive a tour of the Walt Disney Studios and Dolby Laboratories facilities.
One winner will be selected from the finalists to receive an internship opportunity at MARVEL STUDIOS.
We should note that Marvel has a “paid internship program,” just in case you were worried about whether that prize sounded entirely fair. If you want to enter, you’ll need to submit your application within this window: 4:00AM Pacific Time on March 11, 2016 to 9:00PM Pacific Time on March 26, 2016. Finalists will be notified by March 30, 2016 and will travel to LA (with a parent or guardian in tow) on Sunday, April 10, 2016 in order to receive all the cool prizes listed above.
You may recall that Marvel also did a similar challenge in association with the Ant-Man movie last year: The Ant-Man Microtech Challenge. Both incredibly cool challenges with undeniably rad prizes and opportunities … but one sure can’t help but notice that a lot of these Marvel movies fail to include female protagonists who work in STEM fields. (Pepper Potts, Hope van Dyne and Jane Foster could potentially fit that description, but their stories have yet to be placed front-and-center in any Marvel movie.) It’s extremely valuable to promote these strengths in the real world — but it’s also validating to see them reflected in our fictional worlds, as well.
(via USA Today, image via Amino Apps)
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