GRITS sees movie to empower members

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — This weekend, the local group Girls Rocking in the South, or GRITS, made a trip to the movies. But it wasn’t just for entertainment.

Over two hundred girls and families came to the Mayfaire Cinemas to see the new movie “Hidden Figures”.

The movie is the story of three African-American women working at NASA during John Glenn’s first trip in space.

GRITS came out to see the movie to learn about STEM: science, technology, engineering and math, as well as see the inspiring story of those three women.

“It’s very important for them to see these women in this movie who didn’t aspire to solve this national problem that we are still benefiting from today,” Shemeka Shufford said. “But it’s important for them to see them and say ‘hey, that could be me one day’.”

Shemeka Shufford is an engineering teacher at DC Virgo and was one of the stem panelists during a Q&A session held after the movie.

She hopes the girls can see that stem offers great lives and opportunities for young women, not just men.