A group of Whitefish Middle School students got a chance last week to sample careers in science and math during a workshop at Flathead Valley Community College.

The Expanding Your Horizons event drew more than 300 seventh- and eighth-grade girls from the Flathead Valley. The event is designed to encourage young women to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers.

About 40 Whitefish students attended the event for the first time this year. They attended lectures by professional women in various career fields and had the opportunity to participate in hands-on activities.

Middle school counselor Diana Graham said the day was a chance for students to experience subject areas they might not have otherwise.

“It’s empowering for them because of all the professional women in these fields and the students get to see that,” Graham said.

A workshop on medical careers allowed students to work with training mannequins.

One of the participants, Kylie Larson, said when she thinks of science she generally thinks of the periodic table of elements. The workshop day changed that.

“I liked seeing the different fields and finding out there is more to it,” she said. “I thought I wasn’t interested in some of it, but this completely changed my mind.”

A detective from the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office led a workshop on analyzing evidence used in criminal investigations.

During the class, Emma Binstein said students got the chance to make a plaster cast of a footprint and see how that would help identify the shoe.

“I got to experience things I didn’t know I would like,” Binstein said.

Courses during the day focused on a number of areas. A wildlife biology class included live rescue owls. During a DNA class, students got the chance to extract their own DNA from a cheek cell sample. In the engineering workshop, students used spaghetti and marshmallows to construct towers.

The hands-on activities made the day fun for Camdyn Hitchcock.

“It’s boring to just listen — I’d rather actually try doing things,” she said.

Hitchcock enjoyed the physical therapy class that explored the brain. Students took a test to determine if they are left or right brain dominant.

“I thought I was left-dominate, but I found out that I’m right,” she said. “Then you look at the stereotypes — it says I should be disorganized, but I’m the most organized person I know. I would really like to explore that some more.”

Students were assigned to the classes. The Whitefish students said that forced them to explore careers they might not have otherwise.

“It was good to see different areas that I wasn’t necessarily interested in and wouldn’t have picked,” Becca Catina said. “It did expand your horizons.”