"How do you feel when you see someone similar to you in a leadership role?
For many, it's a huge confidence boost.
WHEN Someone similar to you in race or gender has managed to break through barriers
It opens opportunities for all." Allaina Honda
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As Outreach Coordinator for STEM-Fem Alliance, my mission is to expose young scholars (before they become disinterested) to STEM. Working with Tap In Leadership, for the past two summers I've organized STEM workshops where the scholars participate in hands-on activities related to all four (4) disciplines. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. From building marshmallow bridges, modeling predator-prey interactions, building shapes from tangrams, dropping rocks to create meteorite craters, coding and planting their very own plants. Scholars are not only exposed to a variety of activities, but they are taught by confident young graduate students who have shared experiences and the commitment to give back. Oh yeah. They also get their very own LabPads to record their observations throughout the summer.
(detailed lesson plans coming soon) |
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For the first time in 2016, we hosted Pre-Kindergarten workshops. This was a bit challenging as the intent is to expose 4-5 year old scholars to STEM in a way that would excite them to want to learn more. So we got Colorful. There were lemon volcanoes (Chemistry), Tangram Puzzles (Shapes), Marshmallow building (Engineering), Plants (Photosynthesis). We also made colorful butterflies using black markers, coffee filters and a little water (Chromatography) and learned about primary and secondary colors (Basic Color Theory). The scholars learned how different sized rocks can create different size craters and how objects of the same size can weight different and also make different size craters. (detailed lesson plans coming soon)
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Some of our members have served as mentors for Girls Go For IT (GGFI), a program created by Junior League of Champaign-Urbana. This program is aimed at 5th-grade girls to help them build confidence, develop their leadership potential, entrepreneurial spirit, and professional ability. This eight-week program's inaugural debut was in Fall 2015. Girls learned about navigating in male-dominated industries, dealing with bullies and overcoming adversity. The program culminated in the girls plotting their future career pathways via vision boards. No matter the career that was chosen, we support our girls and help them understand the realities of their choices and the work that is needed to achieve their goals.
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