“Sometimes it felt awkward, like I didn’t fit in because of my gender.”

Gargee Piplani

“In eighth grade, I went to nationals for the science bowl. It’s a competition for you to show your scientific knowledge. A team of five kids, from Windermere Ranch, including me, went to regionals and won, and from there we qualified to go to nationals. Since I was the only girl on the team, sometimes it felt awkward, and like, I didn’t fit in just because of my gender. But after spending a lot of time with them, practicing for regionals and nationals, we became more comfortable working with each other, and that was a really cool experience. At nationals, I got to make a lot of friends that shared the same interests as me. Before that experience, I had never really thought about science as something I was good at, but more of just an interest. But after I joined Science Bowl, I found out that science is something that I really enjoyed, and now I want to pursue it as my profession.”