As Teach For Uganda closes STEM Fellowship recruitment, the young women who stepped forward through The Girl I Am. The Change I Lead. share what they learned about themselves and what they’d change about the interview.

Imagine this. You’ve come for an interview. You’re given five minutes, a room of people you’ve just met and a STEM concept you know well. Where do you start? With a definition? A drawing? A question to see where the room takes you?

Five minutes sounds generous until your first example needs an example.

The sample lesson was one part of the interview, alongside a group exercise and a one-on-one conversation. Together, they helped us look for the kind of leader who can make a difficult idea click, listen when someone sees things differently and reflect on what she’d do better next time.

What excited us was the women themselves. They were sharp, confident in what they knew and hungry to make a difference. One left the group exercise thinking about studying project planning and management. She’d realised she wanted to get better at bringing people along with an idea. Another asked for feedback on her sample lesson, even if she didn’t get a place. She was already thinking about how she’d teach it next time.

Moving forward? Congratulations. Bring that curiosity with you.

As you prepare for the next stage, pick one moment from your interview. When did an explanation click? When did someone else’s idea make yours better? Think about what you noticed and what you’d try again. That habit will come in handy when you’re learning alongside teachers and getting to know the learners in your classroom.

If you didn’t get a place, your next move is still yours

More than 260 women were shortlisted from an even larger longlist for 160 Fellowship places. If the outcome stings, give yourself a minute. Then, when you’re ready, take something from the experience and put it to work. Try your sample lesson with a younger learner. Help someone who’s finding her feet in mathematics. The drive that brought you into the interview room can take you further from here.

So what next?

Our next job is to prepare and support the incoming Fellows to teach STEM in underserved secondary schools. Over time, we want more girls to see a future for themselves in STEM. Seeing a young woman lead a science class can help a girl imagine that future. So can getting to run the experiment herself, explain what she found and try again when it goes sideways.

And yes, we’re keeping the notes

Across two assessment cycles, we received 184 feedback submissions. Candidates asked for more time to teach and contribute, less time waiting, venues closer to home and feedback they could use. One candidate suggested eight minutes for the sample lesson. Fair point. A little more time to teach and an earlier trip home can both fit into a better-planned day.

To every young woman who answered the call in The Girl I Am. The Change I Lead., thank you for stepping forward and for being honest about the experience. As recruitment closes and we prepare to welcome the incoming Fellows, your feedback will help us give the next group a better chance to show what they can do.

The STEM Fellowship is implemented by Teach For Uganda under the Leaders in Teaching (LiT) program, led by the Luigi Giussani Foundation and supported by the Mastercard Foundation.