Sixty girls from 12 schools will take part in two-day workshops four times a year to sharpen their skills and open their eyes to careers in various industries.

At the first workshop last week the girls got to know each other and test their problem-solving skills before turning their minds to solving a problem on the Maltesers production line for Mars Wrigley.

And in a first for the Girls in STEM program, a team of students who completed the course last year have returned as student leaders

Haileigh Buttigieg from Damascus College is one of the student leaders passing on the skills she learned last year to mentor the 2023 Girls in STEM.

"Some girls are interested in these types of subjects but feel maybe it doesn't come to them straight away or take the excuse that someone else will do it, or they don't feel they fit in," she said.

"Schools teach you skills that help specific situations but ... this problem solving helps you in everyday life.

"I like this because it's great to grab those girls who are not really interested, or hidden behind what they have to do at school, and help their interest evolve."

The pillars of the Girls in STEM program including 'hold your ideas lightly' and be ready to share and grow together, to applaud the endeavours and successes of each other, give feedback that is kind, specific and useful, and to embrace opportunities to work with new people.

Ballarat Tech School associate director Damon Minotti said the program was an opportunity for girls to put theory in to practice.

"Each of the two days they do each term have an industry focus. Today the engineering team from Mars Wrigley is here and the girls have been given a real factory problem to solve so students come up with a prototype as a way of solving that and perhaps produce a different type of result than actual engineers came up with," he said.

Girls were challenged to find a way to sort good Maltesers from bad Maltesers on the production line to ensure consistency in their size and shape.

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A team of female engineers from Mars Wrigley was also on hand to mentor the girls.

"One in four employees in STEM are female, and it's less than that once you get in to senior management. We want to hopefully inspire these girls to go into subjects like systems engineering, science, and maths in VCE to get that proportion up," Mr Minotti said.

Fellow student leader Hayley Oldaker, from Mount Rowan Secondary College, said the program helped girls see practical ways of using their skills.

"I really like seeing girls who previously thought science and maths was boring, to see a more practical way of using these skills or how to use a formula they learned in maths to build something ... and seeing their face light up," she said.

"In school, we learn the theory but don't learn what we can use it for."

Hayley said being part of Girls in STEM last year helped her realise she really likes engineering and building things - and without that opportunity she might never have known.

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