ABILENE, Texas (AP) - When Jessica Cox accepted the invitation to present the keynote address to the Texas State Technical College’s Blossom Day Camp in Abilene, she wanted to inspire.
The students, 140 from both Clyde and Albany independent school districts, were primed for a little motivation, as the camp serves to expose the youngsters to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) career paths.
As a pilot, Cox said, she needs a lot of math and science knowledge to keep the plane in the air. But it’s Cox’s physical attributes inspiring the girls to pursue their dreams.
Born without arms, Cox not only flies airplanes, she drives a car, surfs, scuba dives, plays the piano, practices as a black belt in taekwondo and is a motivational speaker. That’s more than most regularly abled individuals do with their lives.
“My message for them is that it’s great to be different,” Cox said. “They can excel, that nothing is impossible. It has to start with self-acceptance, though. Especially at their ages, where there’s a lot of pressure to conform.”
Cox, who has a website at www.rightfooted.com, released her first book earlier this year. Titled, “Disarm Your Limits,” it chronicles her life without prosthetic arms and gives insight into how she and others struggling with courage, determination and creativity can overcome challenges.
Aside from an improbable story of success despite adversity, last week’s camp featured a number of different STEM programs offered by TSTC and some encouraging words for the students, the Abilene Reporter-News (https://bit.ly/1PXHDTw) reported.
Jeannette Gist, a recruiter for TSTC and the Blossom Camp organizer, said the program, offered at the Sweetwater campus in addition to Abilene, Breckenridge and Brownwood, will hopefully serve as a catalyst for the young ladies to follow their dreams into math and science careers.
Those jobs pay well, she said, and are dominated by men for an unknown reason.
“We want to expose these young ladies to the various science, technology, engineering and mathematics concepts out there,” Gist said. “The numbers are lopsided for men and women in STEM careers, but there doesn’t seem to be any one reason why more men are in these high-paying jobs than women. We’re just trying to encourage them so maybe they’ll help change this.”
Madison Frost, a seventh-grade student at Clyde Junior High School, said she had a great time at this year’s camp. She’d never participated before, so the different atmosphere presented at the TSTC Culinary Arts building on North First Street piqued her interest.
Frost said despite her age, she’s thinking of pursuing a career in accounting when she gets older. A math fan, she said she likes the money aspect.
“I like dealing with money,” Madison said, adding she doesn’t see why women can’t do the same jobs men do.
While Madison is a fan of math, her classmate Megan Smith, also attending Blossom Camp for the first time, said she’s more of a fan of history and reading.
While she’s more at home studying humanities courses, she said the camp was interesting. Especially when science experiments became hands-on.
She was also interested in hearing from Cox, who amazed signing autographs, opening cans and combing her hair all with her feet.
“I enjoyed listening to Jessica,” Smith said. “She was very inspirational.”
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Information from: Abilene Reporter-News, https://www.reporternews.com
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