Hi everyone.

I'm Emily Calandrell from Morgantown, West Virginia.

You may know me as the host of Exploration Outer Space from my Netflix show, Emily's Wonder Lab, or on the internet at the Space Gal.

I'm an aerospace engineer, and I'm here to tell you that you too can have an exciting career in science, technology, engineering, and math right here in West Virginia.

It all takes education and training.

Also all available right here in our state.

So we're going to go meet some people who are going to tell us all about it.

Because remember, the future is you.

My name is Callyn Zeigler.

I'm from Charleston West Virginia, and I'm a junior at West Virginia University studying computer science and computer engineering.

I had a really good mentor that really inspired me.

She was my computer science teacher, and she really got me interested in computer science.

And I've been a dancer since I was three years old.

And I love the computer science.

Let me do use logical thinking.

And then I could create ar and create cool new inventions.

So computer engineering was the perfect combination.

And what types of jobs would you be interested in?

I would really be interested wherever they need me.

I think something really cool about computer engineering is that it's always growing.

You need it everywhere.

So there's so many new emerging fields, so artificial intelligence, machine learning.

I'm just really interested in all of these new things that we haven't really explored yet, and I want to delve deep into those.

Now you're a Wes Virginia girl, like were raised, born and raised.

Was there anything about growing up in West Virginia that helped inspire you to do what you're doing?

Absolutely.

So I think something about West Virginia is it's a great community, but I've visited rural West Virginia, and I know it can be especially difficult when there's no Wi-Fi connection.

So how could you ever major in computer engineering?

But it really inspired m to get involved in this field, and I hopefully can give back to West Virginia one day.

And I'd say for all the girls out ther in West Virginia thinking that, you know, they can't pursue STEM because of geographical disparities, that that's not true at all.

Don't let anyone stop you.

You can make a robot out of a soda can if you want to, and surprisingly, there really are a ton of resources for education and training right here in the state.

Exactly.

You just have to know where to find them.

You have to know where to find them.

And then after you get those, there's so many jobs here.

You could stay in the state if you wanted to.

Yeah.

And we just need to get tha access out there to those areas.

I want everyone to know about them because we need more girls in this field.

There you have it.

There is so much out there to get excited about.

So get started today.

Ask your school counselor about STEM education, including career technical education opportunities that are available through your school.

The fields of science and technology need you, and I'm telling you, the rewards are out of this world.

I'm Emily Calandrelli and until next time, remember the future is you.