Projects

The STEM SENC Leaders engaged in activities related to broadening the educator workforce, and identified and shared opportunities to develop and support STEM educators of color with the STEM SENC steering committee, STEM SENC partners, and regional STEM educators.

This effort was generously sponsored by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and is being conducted in response to the challenge to increase the range of the educator workforce.

STEM SENC Leaders Cohort 1:

• Phyllis King, Lumberton Junior High School, Public Schools of Robeson County
• Asia Rogers-Burney, Central Middle School, Whiteville City Schools
• Kemeka Sidbury, DC Virgo Preparatory Academy
• LaTerri Underwood, Wallace-Rose High School, Duplin County Schools
• Vanessa Williams, Central Middle School, Whiteville City Schools

In an effort to bridge the digital divide, STEM SENC partnered with Kramden Institute to provide FREE home computers to 360 students in grades 3-12 in New Hanover County, Pender County, and Robeson County schools.

The computers were installed with an open source operating system and came pre-installed with over 100 applications including an offline encyclopedia with over 50,000 articles. The students received training about how to set-up and use their new computers.

STEM SENC, STEM EAST, STEM WEST, and the Smoky Mountains STEM Collaborative are partnering with the NC Center for Afterschool Programs on a Moonshot Catalyst Award to engage more girls and underserved youth in deeper STEM learning.

The award will support the NC Flight Crew program--a year-long STEM leadership development program for 10 girls and non-binary students in grades 6-12 from across our state. The program will provide students with opportunities to learn more about STEM and STEM careers, develop their leadership skills, and give back to their communities.

Launched in 2020, the Million Girls Moonshot is a transformative nationwide initiative that is inspiring and preparing the next generation of innovators by engaging millions more girls in STEM learning opportunities through afterschool and summer programs over five years. The Million Girls Moonshot is the premier initiative of the STEM Next Opportunity Fund, an organization committed to expanding exceptional STEM learning opportunities outside of the classroom for all children everywhere.

In a national competition, STEM SENC was one of twelve applicants selected to join Cohort 4 of the STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice. A STEM learning ecosystem encompasses schools, community settings such as after-school and summer programs, science centers and museums, and informal experiences at home and in a variety of environments that together constitute a rich array of learning opportunities for young people.

The STEM Learning Ecosystems seek to nurture collaboration among a variety of partners with the same goal: helping students develop important skills and engagement in science, technology, engineering and math. Being a member of this initiative enables STEM SENC to connect with other ecosystems in the U.S. and abroad to improve education in science, technology, engineering and math.