"Every child should have the opportunity to fulfill his or her full potential, which is why today's celebration of Women's History Month and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education is so important. The students attending today's celebration are a reminder that the next generation of engineers, astronauts and innovators is among us, and we owe every child the opportunity to choose a school that best meets his or her needs.

"I'd like to thank Ivanka Trump, the Smithsonian Institution and NASA for collaborating to make this event a success, and I'm grateful to the astronauts and engineers who took the time to educate the students who were present."

Event background:

Women are consistently underrepresented in the STEM fields. Fewer than one in seven women ages 25 to 64 with a STEM degree has a STEM job, compared to about one in three men with the same degree.

Today's event took place at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, and featured an approximately 400 students and teachers from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Secretary DeVos and Ms. Trump participated in three demonstrations with students prior to a panel discussion inside the museum's Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater. Students heard from DeVos, Trump, NASA astronaut Kay Hire, and several other female NASA engineers and leaders prior to the showing of the movie "Hidden Figures."

The following schools participated in today's celebration: Oyster-Adams Bilingual School (District of Columbia Public Schools), Washington Mathematics Science Technology Public Charter School (District of Columbia Public Schools), McKinley Middle School (District of Columbia Public Schools), Sterling Middle School (Loudon County Public Schools, Virginia), and Charles Carroll Middle School (Prince George's County Public Schools, Maryland).