Thanks to both Verizon and Paul D. Camp Community College, many girls in Western Tidewater got a summer program they will remember.

Instead of archery, crafts and canoes, the campers were happy learning 3-D design, entrepreneurship and codes.

The latter activities were recently featured in the second annual Verizon Innovative Learning program that encourages future women toward careers in science, technology, engineering and math, often better known by its acronym, STEM; this is also sometimes known as STEAM, which rightly includes the arts.

All this was hosted at the college’s Regional Workforce Development Center in Franklin, and was open to girls from not only Franklin and Southampton but also Isle of Wight and Suffolk.

Guiding in many instances were female mentors to encourage what the girls were learning and what they could achieve later in life.

Encouraging more girls to become interested in STEM topics is crucial to the future development of our workforce. A report issued last year by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economics and Statistics Administration reported that women filled 47 percent of all U.S. jobs in 2015 but held less than a quarter of STEM jobs. Women also constitute slightly more than half of college-educated workers but make up only 25 percent of college-educated STEM workers.

Women with degrees in science, technology, engineering or math are also far more likely than their male counterparts to work in education or health care.

Furthermore, women can earn substantially more when they hold STEM jobs. Women with STEM jobs earned 35 percent more than comparable women in non-STEM jobs, according to the report. Women with STEM jobs even earned 40 percent more than men with non-STEM jobs.

Keeping all these statistics in mind, anything that encourages young women to learn about STEM is a great summer program. But this program doesn’t stop entirely when summer ends. The girls will continue to learn through STEM-related activities and events one Saturday a month through their graduation next May.

For those who missed this year’s class, the good news is that PDCCC will be funding the program for the 2019-2020 years.

We commend both Verizon and PDCCC, as well as the parents who have encouraged their daughters to seek out challenging and fulfilling lives through science, technology, engineering and math.