Lt. Governor Speaks with Local Women

SOMERS POINT – New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno was the guest speaker at a Woman’s Leadership Conference at Greate Bay Country Club sponsored by the Cape May County Women’s Commission.
Hosted by Cape May County Freeholder E. Marie Hayes and the county Freeholder Board, the Women’s History Month event was a fund-raiser for the Atlantic and Cape May County chapters of the American Association of University Women. The funds will go toward the group’s daylong teentech program for ninth through 11^th grade girls to be held in May at Atlantic Cape Community College in Mays Landing and a weeklong Tech Trek Camp for eighth-grade girls in July at Stockton College.
Guadagno, who was the first female sheriff of Monmouth County, emphasized the importance of getting girls involved in science, technology, engineering and math, areas where women are under-represented. “Our job is to show people you can do things, despite the fact that you are a girl,” she said. “When you get a chance to do something nobody thinks you can do, you do it.”
She pointed out that at the NJ Institute of Technology, only 25 percent of students are female, although technology and engineering jobs are among the highest paid in the country.
“We have to do better,” she said. “We need to grab those girls, and tell them there is a path forward for them. We have to get them in kindergarten through eighth grades. If we wait till high school, it’s too late.”
“We have to reach and grab them as we rise, so they rise, too.”