About the STEMInnovation Program
In the words of founder, Akshara Anand:
"Over the summer of 2016 I applied for a grant from the National Center for Women in Information & Technology and received a $2500 grant to create an after school coding program at Burnet Middle School. Burnet Middle School is a Title 1 Middle School in Austin, Texas where the test scores and attendance rates are very low. I had two main goals when creating this program:
1) Mentor at least 20 young women and teach them computer science.
2) Teach these young women that they can go to college and they should.
Just in 8 months, I've already seen both goals accomplished through observing the girls participate. Each girl has a knack for computer science in a different way- Iris is extremely good at quickly solving programming puzzles whereas Kamara knows exactly how to program her Dash robot to move in a perfect circle. I can truly say I've experienced the joy of teaching from working with these girls every Thursday. Their smartness and willingness to learn impresses me to no extent."
"Over the summer of 2016 I applied for a grant from the National Center for Women in Information & Technology and received a $2500 grant to create an after school coding program at Burnet Middle School. Burnet Middle School is a Title 1 Middle School in Austin, Texas where the test scores and attendance rates are very low. I had two main goals when creating this program:
1) Mentor at least 20 young women and teach them computer science.
2) Teach these young women that they can go to college and they should.
Just in 8 months, I've already seen both goals accomplished through observing the girls participate. Each girl has a knack for computer science in a different way- Iris is extremely good at quickly solving programming puzzles whereas Kamara knows exactly how to program her Dash robot to move in a perfect circle. I can truly say I've experienced the joy of teaching from working with these girls every Thursday. Their smartness and willingness to learn impresses me to no extent."
The STEMInnovation Club is currently active at Burnet Middle School in Austin, Texas and meets every Thursday after school from 4 pm - 5:30 pm. If you are interested in joining, talk to Ms. Whitney!
Want to Start A STEMInnovation Club?
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