Watermark Reflections by Scholarship Recipient Sofia Vartanian

Sofia Vartanian is a high school Junior who attends West Valley College as part of the Middle College program.  Sofia is one of the recipients who won the 2017 AIWA-SF scholarship to attend the annual Watermark Conference for Women. She loves science and technology, and hopes to continue her education in the field of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.  Sofia loves to work with people and help out the community. She is a scout leader who trains others to become future scout leaders. She volunteers in the Teen’s Reach program at the local library helping kids read.  She enjoys playing sports, reading science fiction, and hanging out with her friends.

As one of the AIWA-SF scholarship winners I felt privileged and excited about being able to participate in the Watermark Conference and being able to represent young girls of my generation. As a young woman interested in STEM fields I was awaiting with great anticipation for the opportunity to learn from some of the female industry leaders on how to navigate the male dominated STEM fields. During the Watermark conference the Opening Keynote is what caught my eye. During the Opening Keynote there were many industry leaders who spoke about the intricacy of succeeding in the STEM field as a female. One example is learning how to build a supporting network and to stand up for your rights. One person of interest was Shawn Achor who spoke in regards to living a happy life.  His work focuses on the science of bringing happiness to life and provided useful tips on how to change behavior to achieve joy. He mentioned that we all experience adversity in our everyday lives and we shouldn’t let that get the best of us. Instead we should enjoy the small and big success we have in life, and learn from our mistakes.

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