EDMONTON -- About 600 Grade 6 girls were at the University of Alberta this week to explore careers in science.

The CHOICES conference welcomes the students and their teachers to experience engineering and science first-hand, conducting experiments and speaking with women working in those fields.

The annual event by Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science and Technology (WISEST) has been running for 29 years and has welcomed more than 16,000 students.

The program team lead says inspiring girls at this age can be powerful, as girls begin to 'self-select' out of math and science in junior high.

"If we can give them that pivotal moment in Grade 6 where they understand that there is something about science that they love and that they could do it and succeed in it, then it'll carry them through and hopefully through to junior high and high school and we'll see them choosing those careers and those education paths," Fervone Goings said.

There are more than 25 activities available, including experiments with cryogenics and forensics, plus drones, robotics, prosthetics, coding, fossils and more.

"WISEST's goal is to encourage girls to pick science and engineering as potential career paths so that they know that there's a welcoming place for them in STEM education, that there are jobs [available] and that there is a community that is ready to encourage them to be here and doing STEM work," Goings said.  

Many of the 160 volunteers that help made the conference possible attended a CHOICES event when they were in Grade 6.

The two-day conference wraps up Feb. 19.