by Eden Golomb ’26

On Friday afternoons, after the school day has ended and many students have either boarded the 4:00 PM buses leaving Dyker Heights or shuffled to their extracurricular activities, the voices of students chatting about exponent rules and negative numbers emanate from Room 002. There, Grades 5 and 6 Middle School girls work hard to collaborate and master math concepts together. 

GirlsFactor!, a math enrichment initiative founded by Trinity alumnae Beth Ebrahimpour and Emma Leifer, began as an afterschool program dedicated to providing girls with the resources and experience necessary to succeed in math competitions and increase their confidence in the male-dominated field. In 2023, Mathematics Department Chair Maria DiCarlo P’23 discovered the program and first shared it with her Advanced PreCalculus class to inquire about interested student leaders.

“I am committed to motivating students from underrepresented groups in the STEM fields to see themselves as mathematicians and hopefully one day consider a college major and/or career in STEM,” DiCarlo reflected. “I remember being one of only two or three girls in my math classes in college, so my commitment to girls in particular is personal. Having taught middle school, I could see previously assertive girls begin to lose their confidence in the math classroom as adolescence kicked in. When I learned about GirlsFactor!, it was a no-brainer for me.”

When Daisy Lu ’26 and I heard about this new opportunity, we expressed interest in establishing a GirlsFactor! chapter at Poly Prep because we noticed the disproportionate representation of girls and boys in our advanced STEM classes and wanted to inspire more girls to be confident in their abilities. In the following weeks, we began the process of reaching out to the fifth and sixth grade girls and their families, creating engaging lesson plans, establishing meeting dates, and ensuring that pizza will be provided after every meeting. 

Poly’s GirlsFactor! chapter expanded upon the mission of the original GirlsFactor! program, to improve upon the understanding of math concepts and confidence of middle school girls, through new lessons on math topics, such as surface area and operations with negative numbers, and activities, including plotting ducks and Jeopardy!

The group fosters a sense of community, both throughout Grade levels by building a system of support between girls of various ages at Poly, and among Middle School girl mentees by offering students an opportunity to meet and work with peers in a low-stakes environment. 

“We learned so much and we all support[ed] each other,” said GirlsFactor! alumna Elena N. ’30. “It was such a lovely space where we could grow and get better at math.”

This year marks three years of GirlsFactor! at Poly. Lu and I are looking forward to working with the next group of GirlsFactor! leaders, Rose Filippazzo ’27, Shelby Kimmelman ’27, and Adelaide Swartz ’27. We hope to continue incorporating new ideas and activities into the GirlsFactor! curriculum to further engage the participants and inspire confidence in the next generation of female mathematicians.