STEM Kids NYC

Our goal is for our young Scientists, Computer Scientists, Engineers, and Creative Technologists to improve their abilities to develop knowledge constructs around their discovery in the STEM disciplines, by engaging in problem-based activities and participatory action research around issues that occur in their community and the real world. Students will develop proficiency in developing a STEM solution to address those issues that occur within their community. In addition, our goal is to enable our students to develop perseverance, generate continued interest in the disciplines of STEM even after they may experience failure in one or more of their tasks, and develop a lifelong curiosity for learning and discovery.

Further, our goal is for our students to acquire skills in utilizing different forms of inquiry that will allow them to express their understanding and design skillsets in their own creative ways. Further, they will join, upon meeting other STEM professionals, a peer group comprised of a diverse community of lifelong STEM learners who, like them, do STEM and who operate in the realm of being a STEM professional, with a STEM identity. Lastly, our aim is for our students to deepen their skills in the practice of questioning, sense-making, reflection, and making connections with STEM content in the most meaningful of ways.

STEM Kids NYC realizes these goals through strong relationships with the school and communities in which we operate our programs. We collaborate with educators, community leaders, community-based organizations, corporate volunteers, industry partners, to implement programs that enable students to tap into their natural abilities for STEM. Our programs are implemented in schools, community centers, and at Universities, and consist of a combination of after-school and Saturday programs, and day camps during the summer and school holidays. Our STEM Teachers possess proficiencies and graduate-level degrees in one or more STEM disciplines and, through the thorough preparation of lesson planning and assessments, they teach PreK-12 students 21st Century skills in experiential Science, Computer Science (making apps, video games, virtual reality movies, websites), Engineering & design, robotics, and creative technologies. Our program promotes scientific and engineering habits of mind, as well as inspire innovation that transforms failure into mere first attempts at learning new skills.

Our computer programming activities include developing websites using the programming languages, Java (app maker software), and Python (app inventor). Students will also create video games using the coding program Tynker. These activities will promote critical thinking through incorporating project-based learning which taps into the creativity and imagination of students.

The engineering & design activities interlink art, design, and technology into lessons enabling students to use creativity and artistic backgrounds to design product/inventions and allow student multiple modes of learning and access to disciplines that are not normally available in other classes.

STEM literacy is incorporated by using multi-media, writing with English Language Arts and expository writing to maintain lab journals and create presentations to demonstrate knowledge.

Added enhancement is offered to students through field trips to tech companies/competitions providing experiential learning which supports the content and knowledge the students learn in the classroom, as well as exposure/ informal mentorships with STEM professionals.

What sets STEM Kids NYC apart from our competition is:

1. Our People: EVERYONE on our team has mastery in one or more STEM disciplines, and together, we accomplish the learning objectives of our company that support our students in achieving their learning outcomes in our program. Our team has a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Physics and Science Education. Our team possesses undergraduate degrees in Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Creative Technologies. Our Founder has her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, a Master of Arts in Education, with a K-12 STEM Concentration, and her Ed.M. in Curriculum & Teaching from Columbia Teachers College.

2. Our Culturally responsive teaching and instruction

3. Ability to develop lesson plans that support students' multiple modes of learning

4. Strong relationships with all of our stakeholders: our school partners, our students, our students' families, our donors, and our corporate sponsors.

5. We have a strong volunteer base of 52 volunteers who contribute their STEM mastery in our afterschool programs, our weekend programs, and our summer programs.

To date, STEM Kids NYC has achieved record year over year growth in customer acquisition, customer retention, and business expansion. We currently have 225 students enrolled in our afterschool programs, 12 STEM teachers, 12 school clients, and community-based organization partners. Since our inception, we've expanded our program offering - we now offer STEM PreK and it's going strong after a year in production. In addition, we extended our programming to include young adults up to age 24. For teens and young adults, aged 16-24, we have a 20-week Coding Bootcamp, whereby we teach underemployed or unemployed youth the skills they need to learn a computer programming language and the job readiness skills to insert themselves into the tech space.

Our results as it relates to student achievement is also worth bragging about. 90% of our students share that they want to major in a STEM field and wish to be a STEM professional. We have an overwhelming response from parents who continue to refer us to their children's schools and recommend STEM Kids NYC to other parents. Our referral rate is over 80%. In addition, 83% of our parents claim to see an improvement in their child's behavior in school, along with their academic behaviors to stick with the challenging parts of the school, particularly math and science. We have realized a 98% growth in our afterschool expansion, and 70% of our students are returning students in our weekend and day camp programs.