Samiah Turner does things that most other 9-year-olds don’t do. She’s measured out the exact amount of water she needs for a bath so the tub doesn’t overflow, and she knows how long it takes for the tub to fill to that point. Last spring she spoke at a summit of education leaders at Stanford University in California to share her knowledge about electrical systems and underwater robotics devices.
Turner is also a published author. She published her book, “My Life As An 8-Year-Old Engineer,” last year when she was 8.
“Sometimes it’s like you want to put something out to let people know about you,” said Turner, a fourth-grader at George and Veronica Phalen Leadership Academy, “so you’ve got to do something really big, like write a book for example.”
Turner said it took her a few months to write the book, which shows the everyday influence engineering has on her life throughout a normal day. The book, available on Amazon for $15, has 14 pages of her own work followed by blank pages for the reader to write about their own life as an engineer.
Turner has been learning about engineering through Phalen’s partnership with STEMNASIUM — a program designed to introduce students to science, technology, engineering and math — and said she wants to be an engineer or inventor when she grows up.
Tariq Al-Nasir, who founded STEMNASIUM and helped with the book, called Turner a “power user,” meaning she uses technology and figures out ways to make it even better. He hopes Turner goes to one of his alma maters, Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Stanford.
“Most kids from communities like this, they don’t have identity, so they don’t really know what they want to do,” Al-Nasir said. “They see things on TV, and most of the time the things that they’re seeing are really far-fetched. … Everybody’s trying to win the lottery and the NFL draft or NBA draft. This is the lottery. This is the NBA draft. This is the NFL draft.”
While writing a book and speaking at a summit may one day be the building blocks of a promising professional career, these accomplishments for now are a way to prove wrong those who Turner said underestimate her.
“Some people think that I’m not supposed to write a book because females aren’t supposed to be doing stuff like writing a book,” she said. “It’s like a game of Truth or Dare. You’ve always got to be alert or trick somebody.”
Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.
Samiah Turner
