Catherine Andary

Age: 17 | Location: Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Hello, my name is Catherine and I am a second-year Medical Sciences student at the University of Western Ontario. My current STEM interests include neurodegenerative disease research. Outside of academics, I enjoy playing piano, volunteering, and advocating for mental health. As a Canada-Wide Science Fair alumna, I am passionate about supporting youth and inspiring them to be involved in STEM!

How do you feel to join the Youth STEM Summit Design Team?

I am incredibly honoured to have the opportunity to work with the amazing individuals of the Design Team to create a summit that demonstrates that anyone can be involved in STEM. This is truly a unique opportunity to work with other like-minded youth from all around the world towards the common goal of encouraging young people to pursue a future in STEM. I am looking forward to learning from my fellow team members and drawing upon their diverse life experiences to create an incredible international summit.  

What are you most looking forward to about the Design Team?

The Design Team represents an incredible opportunity for personal growth and making new friends from around the world. As a grade school student, I was lucky to have a teacher that inspired me to be involved in STEM through my local and later national science fairs. I hope that by designing this summit along with the other amazing Design Team members, I can not only learn from and connect with them but also help inspire other youth, no matter their background, to be involved in the many facets of STEM.

What are you hoping to bring to the Design Team?

As an individual with a passion for volunteering and advocacy, I am hoping to bring my leadership and collaborative skills to create a positive and progressive team environment. In addition to my experience with conference planning, I am a determined and outgoing person. By bringing my energy and enthusiasm to the team, I hope to create an environment where the creative ideas of my diverse team members are encouraged so that we can work to our full potential as a team.

Why did you decide to get involved?

In grade school and throughout high school, I was incredibly blessed to have supportive parents and teachers that encouraged me to be involved first in the Windsor Regional Science, Technology, and Engineering Fair, and later in the national fairs such as the Canada-Wide Science Fair and international science forums. Volunteering allowed me to realize that not all youth around the world were given such opportunities nor mentorship. I was incited to apply to the Design Team because I was excited for the opportunity to work with other youth in STEM from around the world to provide other youth with the opportunity to be involved in the various aspects of STEM, especially scientific research.

Why is young people making a difference through STEM important?

I truly believe introducing youth to STEM will have a positive and decisive impact on our future. Introducing youth to STEM experiences helps them to develop the critical thinking, social literacy, and innovation skills necessary to be future leaders and change-makers. STEM is present in all aspects of our life, from healthcare and laboratory research to the arts and humanities. I am a firm believer that by introducing the world’s youth to STEM, we will be able to improve the quality of life of humanity and ultimately change the world through our next generation of leaders.

What are you most excited for at the Summit itself?

I am personally excited to learn and hear about the life experiences and opportunities presented by our incredible international speakers. I am so excited to gain a more international approach to STEM, and to learn how individuals from around the world are using STEM to create change in their own communities!

What do you hope to achieve through the Summit?

This summit represents an incredible opportunity to highlight the intersectionality of STEM. STEM cannot and should not continue to be a field open only to a select group of individuals. By recruiting a variety of individuals of various ages, gender identities and socioeconomic situations, I am excited to show the world’s youth that anyone can be involved in STEM. I hope that seeing speakers and STEM leaders coming from life experiences similar to their own will encourage them to make the same change in their own communities.