STEM Minute| Making major strides for young women in engineering

MT. ZION, Ill. (WAND)-- Nia Morris is bringing together her love for art and cars with the hopes of creating a future for herself in automotive design.

As just a junior in high school, she is following her dreams while making major strides for young women in the automotive industry. Nia has attended several auto shows and classes, but the most prestigious she attended took place in Detroit, Michigan.

"I was at camp for 3 weeks and I had the opportunity to design a car for any purpose and my design was for a wheelchair accessible vehicle."

At the camp Nia was one of seven students in the class and also the only female. Nia has had several accomplishments at a young age and one that she is most proud of is being awarded a scholarship from General Motors to take two college courses in Creative Studies while still in high school.

Jaunita Morris, Nia's mom, said, "We are super proud of her, but our task is to make sure that she is good, and she is whole."

Both of Nia's parents are beaming with pride as she pushes to make her name known in the industry while being a trail blazer for other young girls interested in entering a male dominated industry.

Her advice to other young girls, "Follow your passion and do what you love."

At such a young age Nia has worked towards creating a space for everyone to find their love of luxury cars, regardless of any obstacles a person may face. Which has not only made Nia successful at a young age but a strong role model to other girls.

Jaunita says, "I think they can learn you don't always have to be an extrovert to do good work and to be in the sciences and to be in a different industry."

As Nia gets ready to start her Senior year at Mt. Zion High School, she plans to continue to build and design cars in order to set her up for a bright future engineering and designing cars. If you are interested in seeing some of Nia's work, it will soon be on display at the Children's Museum of Central Illinois where she is working to complete an EV exhibit.