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Photo credit: Scott W. Nichols from the The Webb School �What do you want to be when you grow up?� Who hasn�t been asked that a million times by adults? And when we were little, we would answer that question with whatever felt right to us in the moment: �Unicorn.� �Fire fighter.� �Astronaut.� "Superhero" �Ballerina.� �Doctor.� "Teacher." And we knew in our heart that we could be the thing we wanted to be, and more often than not we were encouraged to pursue our dreams. And when our dreams changed, we wholeheartedly pursued the new dream. And then one day the question became harder to answer. Why? We live, we learn, and we start to judge what our heart wants as attainable or not based on our beliefs about ourselves and our ability to achieve the dream. A boy dreaming of being a ballerina might only see pictures of girl ballerinas and develop the belief that boys can�t be ballerinas. Or a girl might dream of being an astronaut until someone says, �Girls with glasses...

By Rachel Hunter Everyone knows about the gender gap and that men outnumber women in FIRST and in STEM careers. FIRST teams have been challenged to "Make It Loud" and help engage more young people in STEM activities . Girls on FIRST teams all over the world are already doing big things, and it�s time to bring those talents to the forefront and showcase them for the rest of the FIRST community. In June 2014, FTC Team 5972, The Patronum Bots , created FIRST Ladies to do just that. The intention of the FIRST Ladies community is to create a space for female members of any FIRST program to unite and learn from each other�s experiences. As the numbers grew to over one hundred before the first month was even over, it became apparent that it had the potential to do much more than that. FIRST Ladies began to expand its reach and recruit FRC and alumni partners. It began with FRC Team 3132, The Thunder Down Under, from Sydney, Australia partnering with Patronum Bots to promote the F...