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Girl Dad For STEM

How one family is changing the face of their industry in Nevada

At age 11 Trent Keenan knew he would build a land surveying company. After he moved to Las Vegas in 1987, he saw a couple of surveyors walk to the center of an intersection and was fascinated. He explained the experience by quoting an industry saying, “the profession finds you.”

The profession also found Trent’s daughter, Heather, 19, when she was in fifth grade. She is currently attending Great Basin College in order to take over the family business, Diamondback Land Surveying. Both father and daughter are doing their part to pave the way for future females in the industry.

Only 2 percent of surveyors in Nevada are women and women are only 29 percent of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) workforce in the United States.

Heather’s interest for surveying was developed by her own early desire to plan her future, and further encouraged by West Career & Technology Academy’s project to engage and prepare students in college during their freshman year. She decided on Oregon Institute of Technology and transferred to Great Basin College in March of 2020. She will graduate in 2024. 

Heather isn’t as much interested in the idea of taking over her dad’s business, but more so proving that women can do the same things men can do,

“When someone gives me a hard time about my profession, I just shrug it off and think to myself, ‘You’ll work for me one day.’”

Her confidence is breathtaking when the stats veer the other way. A report from Ypulse Research Group and the authors of The Confidence Code for Girls found that today’s girls often experience low levels of confidence. 

Between ages 8 and 14, girls’ confidence levels drop by 30 percent.

During their tween and teen years, girls’ confidence that other people like them falls from 71 percent to 38 percent — a 46 percent drop. 

Between ages 12 and 13, the percentage of girls who say they’re not allowed to fail increases by 150 percent.

Ypulse also reports that while young girls and boys are equally likely to believe they will succeed in a STEM career, when girls enter their teen years, their confidence often stagnates, and they begin to doubt their abilities.

The Keenans believe the way forward is investment in STEM education through local technical high schools and to be involved in STEM programming with the Girl Scouts. Girls need access to early STEM experiences and the opportunity to learn from inspiring women role models. Seeing the process of designing, building, testing, failing, and retesting early on will allow young women to understand that failure is okay as they build confidence in their capabilities and advocate for themselves in male dominated fields. 

The Keenans are putting their money where their mouths are and continue to support Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada. They have provided pro bono work for both Camp Foxtrail and the new Frias Frontier, previously named Cowboy’s Dream, and gifted by the Charles and Phyllis M. Frias Charitable Trust, of which Trent expressed, “the property is beautiful, and the possibilities are endless.” When pressed as to his why, he simply said, “I want to promote girls in STEM and provide a platform for women and girls in this profession."

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