Providing the Best Role Models for STEM Students
A new grant will help expand the Academy’s Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program, enabling members to have a greater impact on the next generation of scientists.
Published April 13, 2016
By Diana Friedman
As Ellis Rubinstein, President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences, said in his keynote earlier this week at the World Strategic Forum, “If all of us work together, we can better prepare today’s students to become tomorrow’s STEM innovators.”
In addition to bringing industry, academia, government, and philanthropy together, one of the key strategies that the Academy has focused on in its STEM education programs is bringing science professionals and students together. By providing young people with the chance to meet role models face-to-face and learn directly from those working in STEM, students get the chance to imagine new possibilities for pursuing lifelong careers in science, technology, engineering and math. This is particularly important for young people living in some of the poorest areas of New York, who particularly benefit from meeting younger scientists who look like them and with whom they can build friendships.
That’s why the Academy is so excited to announce the expansion of the Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program thanks to a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). This grant, mentioned today in the White House’s annual Science Fair Fact Sheet, will build the capacity of our afterschool programming in New York and Newark, New Jersey.
A Flood of Applications
When the Academy first put out a call for mentors to members, the applications flooded in. And in the six years since the program started, interest has only grown. Many members have returned to the program year after year, demonstrating their deep desire to have an impact beyond their research by volunteering to serve as afterschool mentors.
“We would like to thank the Corporation for National and Community Service and are excited to be part of the AmeriCorps VISTA expansion,” said Rubinstein. “Over 1,000 Academy members have already volunteered to teach and mentor kids through the Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program. This generous grant from CNCS will build our capacity to bring this experience to thousands more.”
Learn more about our Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program:
