Earlier this month, I attended Part III of the Engineering Practices Support Equity, which focused on the four core features of an engineering mindset and practices:

• Evaluating and iterating designs

• Persisting through and learning from failure

• Working effectively in teams

• Identifying as engineers

I left the session contemplating how failure is framed and how that plays into the Million Girls Moonshot initiative of getting more girls and underrepresented groups involved in STEM and STEM careers. Time and again, we've seen trailblazers work tenaciously to break through barriers. There can be great pressure to be "perfect" or to say "failure is not an option" when you are the only woman or minority in the room as if you are representative of an entire group of people. In reality, no one acts for their entire gender/race/religion/etc. and no one is perfect. We must normalize failure, even celebrate it as part of the learning process and journey to success, as there are great insights to be found. As Thomas Edison said, "I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work". Cheers to failure!

Christine Jones Monaccio

VPOST Professional Development and Quality Coordinator