NewsFood & Entertainment

Actions

Newport News Shipbuilding program treats girls to special ‘Hidden Figures’ screening

Posted at 4:14 PM, Feb 04, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-04 16:14:45-05

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Newport News Shipbuilding's Career Pathways program, Girls with Engineering Minds in Shipbuilding (GEMS) treated 86 girls to a special screening of the movie Hidden Figures.

GEMS is an after school mentoring program for middle school girls who are interested in science, technology, engineering and math.

Newport News Shipbuilding sponsors the program at Crittenden Middle School and Booker T. Washington Middle School.

Newport News Shipbuilding Nuclear Inspector Melissa Vaughn, granddaughter of Dorothy Vaughn--the NASA Mathmetician portrayed by Octavia Spencer in the movie--also attended the screening.

Vaughn has worked for the shipyard for 16 years. She says owes a lot of what her career has become to her grandmother and the struggles she endured.