How Miss America's passion for STEM inspires young women

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Miss Wisconsin yesterday, Miss America today.

20-year-old Grace Stanke of Wausau won big Thursday night, thanks to her smarts and talent.

"It's just truly incredible to be the spokesperson for promoting women's education, promoting women empowerment," Stanke told CBS 58 on Friday.

Stanke is a nuclear engineering student at UW-Madison - the first in that field to compete in Miss America.

Through her competition tenure, Stanke has earned almost $70,000 in scholarships.

"Before, grad school wasn't even an option, but now it's on the table," Stanke said.

With her impressive background, Stanke's impact reaches farther than the competition.

"It is huge for the mission of growing women in tech and growing awareness," said mobile engineer, Carly Fristoe.

Fristoe is the co-chair of Girls Who Code at Shorewood High School.

Girls Who Code is a national organization for girls interested in STEM, with a mission to grow female representation in the science, technology, engineering and math industries.

"According to a recent study, women actually only make up 28% of the workforce in stem fields. There is a gender gap - it is real," Fristoe said.

She hopes Stanke's platform will reflect on young women, like her students.

"Our hope is that maybe a girl was watching the competition saw that she won and saw how amazing of a woman that she is, and that girl can do just as much as Grace has done," Fristoe said.

Miss America's advice to girls interested in a male-dominated field: Don't worry about what others think.

"It's progressively getting better, but it's not going to be easy. The best way to get through this is to stay true to who you are, know what you believe in," Stanke said.

With her new title, Stanke's goal is to create momentum for clean energy.

"I'm so excited to be a nuclear engineering student who isn't afraid to talk about nuclear power, to talk about wind, to talk about solar, and all these incredible energy sources that we can be switching to as a nation," Stanke said.

Fristoe echoes that encouraging the younger generation is the starting point for change.

"Help us help the world. Let's all work together to grow the future pipeline of women in tech and women in leadership," Fristoe said.