1 of 17

Girls from across Hoover City Schools were treated to a full day of STEM activities and learning at the 2025 Girls Engaged in Math and Science Expo at Spain Park High School. (Reporter photos/Tyler Raley)

By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

HOOVER – Showcasing their wealth of knowledge and passion for learning, more than 650 young girls from across Hoover City Schools got to experience a day full of STEM activities during the 2025 Girls Engaged in Math and Science Expo.

The event was hosted at Spain Park High School on Saturday, Feb. 1, beginning with a keynote speech from 19-year-old Massachusetts Institute of Technology student Gitanjali Rao, who is a double major in bioengineering and business management. She was named as TIME Magazine’s Kid of the Year in 2020 at the age of 15, and is a published author as well as a global public speaker.

Speaking to the group of growing individuals, she desired for them to take away one thing after they left the expo: to shoot for the stars and dream big.

“All I want you guys to do is really think deep, think big and do what all of your shirts say right now is just dream big and make it happen,” Rao said. “At the end of the day, that’s why I’m up here and that’s why I’m speaking here is because when I was your age, I made it my goal to dream as big as I could.”

A lot of Rao’s studies at MIT center around research for her own inventions and devices, but more of her time is spent going around the world and country as a speaker to young girls and others who have a passion for science, technology, engineering and math.

By being a public speaker and going around offering advice to the next generation, Rao hopes that she continues to get the word out there about what STEM is so that more people can continue to develop a passion for it.

“There’s places in the world that don’t even know what STEM is, there’s places in the world that don’t know what science is,” Rao said. “I really want to bring the excitement and passion that you guys have for science to all of those people as well.”

Rao is most known for her invention of Tethys, which is a patented device that carries out early detection of lead and more dangerous chemicals in drinking water. She was inspired to build the device by understanding the unsafe drinking water conditions that are present in Flint, Michigan, and hopes to get them in homes across the world so that everybody can have safe drinking water.

“Seeing the kids there has really inspired me because I have drinking water at the dinner table every single day, and there’s so many kids around the world who don’t,” Rao said. “I built this when I was in seventh grade, and I’ve gone on to do a lot of cool things with it.”

Another one of Rao’s goals is to create a system that acts as a spell check for cyberbullying. She desires for it to be used in a way that kids can get a second chance to read over what they type before sending it to someone, ultimately with the goal of driving down some of the cyberbullying that goes on around the world today.

“The worst part about bullying is there is no real cause because of it,” Rao said. “It’s all based on this research that says it only takes seven seconds for a teenager to want to unsend something that they send, and I built this when I was like 16, and I wanted to make this by a teenager, for a teenager… it gives you that chance to just rethink what you’re saying which I think is very very important.”

She continued on by discussing the idea of design thinking, which is the process of solving problems. Rao wants to make it a normal thing that all people use, trying to help people in the best way possible.

“Think about the people in the long term we want to see impacted,” Rao said. “My biggest thing when it comes to design thinking is empathy. Always go back to kindness. Humans matter first, no matter what.”

She then touched on the idea of failure, trying to get the kids in attendance to come to the understanding that it is okay to make mistakes because it propels people to keep going and try again.

“Something I want you guys to really think about is failure,” Rao said. “I mess up every single day, and I think it’s really really hard to realize that it really is okay to mess up and so this is me telling you it is and maybe you won’t believe me, because I wouldn’t believe me. I think one of the biggest things about making a good idea is realizing that it is okay to try again.”

She then went on to conclude her speech by telling the girls to take the risk so that they can continue to grow and learn and become the best version of themselves.

After the address, the girls were able to head over to their projects, showing off their designs and displays to their parents, while also taking photos with Rao before participating in more STEM sessions throughout the rest of the day.

More 280 Reporter

Chelsea beats Spain Park to earn sub-regional spot

Briarwood Christian blows past Central Clay, secures spot in sub-regionals

Briarwood silences Sylacauga attack to punch ticket to sub-regionals, area finals

Vincent cruises to win over Ranburne behind dominant first half