High School Freshman Honored With STEM Rising Star Award

Three area high school girls were presented the inaugural STEM Rising Star Awards from the South Central Washington STEM Network during a Zoom event hosted by the organization this past Tuesday night, June 15.

The first place winner, and recipient of a $500 cash award from Washington STEM, was Sara Khan, a 2020-21 West Valley High School freshman who has a STEM interest in computer science. Khan was involved in organizing two STEM fairs to showcase school-wide projects and to help educate and inspire students and families about STEM work. She led the team of students in generating ideas, documenting STEM projects, communicating with STEM teachers, and planning the logistics for the events. During the STEM fairs, Khan also taught classes to parents on the use of Skyward software and Google Classroom. Beyond those events, she’s volunteered for two years with the STEM Building at the Central Washington Fair to demonstrate projects to visitors and engage students with activities at the booths.

Khan was also vice president of the West Valley Junior High’s chapter of the Ignite club that promotes STEM careers, and offered presentations at school board meetings focused on school computer applications being used by students. During 2020, she was invited by Ignite Worldwide to provide a recorded speech for its annual Spring Gala about her passion for STEM fields and her thoughts about the gender gap in the STEM world.

Congratulations Sara!