Latest news, weather, high school sports for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

Just 20 percent of college engineering and physics graduates are women.

And that's not enough, according to Sheila Bailey, a NASA physicist who spoke to almost 200 Marquette and Alger County elementary school girls Friday about opportunities in STEM careers, meaning science, technology, engineering and math.

"I'm trying to tell girls that there's a lot of options out there that they don't necessarily think of. And there are a lot of fun things that they can be missing out on if they don't look around and see that there are careers that perhaps aren't the usual path, but are very exciting and a lot of fun to do," said Bailey.

The goal of the program is to show girls that careers in the math and science fields can be rewarding and lucrative, with most starting salaries over $40,000.

After Sheila's presentation, the girls all split up and went into NMU classrooms, based on what they're interested in. And that's where they learned everything from engineering to architecture. They participated in hands-on activities, such as calculating the route and distance from one city to another, all with the hopes that it would capture the interest of the girls.

"It's actually really cool that some people are just able to think that quickly and just be able to help that much and stuff like that. And that those kinds of jobs are available. I didn't know they existed," said participant Brenna Bruce.