STEMY

These funds will help us curate more Science Kits to sell and donate to underserved students throughout Louisville. Currently, the Science Kits are based on paper microfluidics; however, we do plan on expanding the range of topics we cover. Overall, we will be able to fund the costs of producing the elements of the kits, assembling them into boxes, and distributing kits to the students. 

We aim to close the gender and racial gaps in STEM by sparking a passion for scientific inquiry in students who've previously had limited opportunities in STEM and introducing them to the world of STEM education. Our team members are passionate about this cause because we know how powerful STEM education is, and we emphasize the engagement of students who don’t have access to STEM programs. No matter their background, gender, or means, every student should have access to engaging STEM education. 

STEMY is a high-school student-run non-profit organization that works to incite STEM interest within underrepresented students in the Louisville-Metro area. We want to ensure that students have the resources to learn and experience STEM-related topics & fields, regardless of their socioeconomic, gender, or racial status. Our mission is to deteriorate the stigmas surrounding these areas of study by making these topics more interactive and accessible for the students. One way we’ve been able to achieve this goal is through the Science Kits program. This program is focused on exposing students to interesting science concepts while showcasing how these topics can be applied to real-world scenarios through riveting experiments and lessons.

STEMY works with elementary school students between 4th & 5th grade for the program. We distribute the Science Kits and host workshops at underserved schools in Louisville, such as Shelby Elementary. We work directly with students using the Science Kits to help spark more of an appeal to science-related topics. Our program is extremely versatile and goes the extra mile in educating students of the world of STEM, ranging from the most hands-on engineering topics and experiments to the most conceptual and theory-based topics in a fun, engaging manner!

STEMY’s Science Kit program is an initiative providing material for students to conduct insightful experiments. There is often a negative stigma surrounding STEM within younger students; this, coupled with the socioeconomic barrier that surrounds STEM education, limits the number of students with adequate access to STEM materials. The Science Kits provide an affordable hands-on experience of novel, beyond-curricula material with engaging comic-style guides. This year, the kits focus on paper microfluidics, a novel method of medical diagnosis via the properties of paper. Each kit contains the necessary materials to complete two experiments, and an instructional comic-book style booklet that includes “superheroes” utilizing their powers of STEM to combat real-world issues, detailing the step-by-step process of the experiment and various applicable lessons. This fosters inspiration and real-world application within the lives of students, allowing for much greater retention of STEM concepts. 

STEMY’s Science Kit program is an initiative that provides all the necessary materials for insightful experiments. Each kit contains an instructional comic-book style booklet that includes “superheroes” utilizing their powers of STEM to combat real-world issues. This booklet provides step-by-step instructions of the experiments with various scientific concepts behind them as well as real-life applications. These kits are distributed to underprivileged schools through student-led workshops.  Additionally, the Science kits are sold, so that students can conduct these experiments at home. However, for each one that is sold, a kit is donated to an underserved school, so that students who can’t afford them are still able to enjoy this exposure to STEM.  

We have previously measured the effectiveness of the kits and their ability to enhance STEM concept retention via a pretest and post-test comparison given to students working with the kits in our Science Kit workshops at Shelby Elementary Schools. Overall, our goal is to ensure that the Science Kits are not only educational & inspiring but also accessible & affordable for underprivileged students.