LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Getting back to school is an exciting time, but for some, the new school year can also bring some fear and uncertainty. While students returned to Rise STEM Academy for Girls Wednesday morning, female leaders in Lexington helped ease those nerves by giving an enthusiastic welcome to students while they returned.
“It's just such a wonderful community event and such an empowering moment for our girls,” said Cynthia Bruno, principal at the academy. “Honestly it just brings tears to my eyes to see our girls coming down the carpet being surrounded by amazing women in our community supporting them.”
The carpet Bruno mentioned is purple, but it gave the girls a red carpet moment. Women stood on both sides of the carpet, cheering and waving purple and silver pom-poms. They are a mix of female leaders from Lexington and women currently working in the STEM field.
One of those was Muntaha Imteyaz, who is an electrical engineer at CMTA.
“I think it's important for us to support young girls getting into STEM, especially being an electrical engineer,” said Imteyaz. “I can see that every day. We need strong engineers. We need strong female representation.”
“They see as they walk down the line their models and the women that they look up to,” added Bruno. “It gives them kind of that end goal to know that everything that they're learning here at our school is preparing them to be change makers just like the women that lined our purple carpet today.”
Bruno said the tradition goes way back, but it recently returned to the school in 2024. She plans to keep it going each year, continuing to welcome the students back.
