MIT Solve

Solution Overview & Team Lead Details

Solution name.

Girls Empowerment STEM Initiative

Provide a one-line summary of your solution.

By embracing the T in STEM, I work to bring fun and engaging demonstrations to classrooms across the world, showing kids everywhere that STEM is a diverse and exciting field!

What specific problem are you trying to solve?

I live in an area of Wilmington, Delaware, which has, unfortunately, been dubbed Murdertown, USA by Newsweek. I often hear gunshots from my home, which is difficult enough, but a turning point came when I witnessed a person no older than myself get gunned down in the street near my home. I knew then that I had to offer help in some way; Provide a different picture - a better picture - of what life could be for those who were only getting one image of their potential future. So I created the Girls Empowerment STEM Initiative.

GESI is an organization dedicated to bringing STEM to the underprivileged girls of Wilmington, DE. I strongly believe that if girls are exposed to STEM at a young age, they can develop a love for it early, and use that newfound love to keep them goal-oriented, something that is desperately needed, as only 40% of teens in my hometown graduate.

Because I live in an area of Delaware where many children of color fall prey to drug addiction, violence, and a tendency to give up on education, I provide mentorship and guidance by volunteering my time and using my initiative to inspire and expose the young girls of Wilmington to STEM. I am well aware of the unfortunate fact that most of the girls come from homes where academics aren’t made to be a priority, so I show them that they are. I hope that my short-term sacrifice will provide long-term rewards to my community.

As a young woman who hopes to enter the STEM field one day, it's discouraging to know that only 29% of the STEM workforce is female, and an even lower percentage are minorities. Having these feelings of doubt made me realize that other girls even younger than myself might feel the same way, and without the proper support system and resources, might believe their goal cannot be reached. I believe that each girl is valuable and capable of achieving goals that seem unattainable, they just need to be shown that. I offer them living proof by holding steadfast to my own standards of excellence and achievement, in other words -- I walk the walk and don’t just talk the talk. By letting the girls know I live right here in the same community as they do and that they don't have to fall into the typical negative stereotypes, I offer them hope as a role model, teacher, and friend.

What is your solution?

I want to utilize video-chat technology to virtually enter classrooms all over the world to demonstrate how awesome and diverse STEM is! I already do this myself by going in and showing cool science experiments, but an additional goal of mine is to assemble an entire team of people in the STEM field (students, professors, researchers, engineers, etc.) to virtually enter classrooms and engage with the students. I believe that positive interactions with people in these fields will help those students discover a newfound love for STEM.

Who does your solution serve? In what ways will the solution impact their lives?

K-12 students! Especially students in low-income areas like my hometown. This solution will positively impact their lives in that it will provide them with real-life mentors that they can actually engage with and be deeply inspired by. Nowadays, a lot of kids don't have the positive rolemodels that they need, so this solution provides them with that.

Additionally, low-income schools often don't have the funds to bring in special presenters, so this in a cost-effective way to bring special presenters to the school for the students.

How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?

My team and I have been doing in-person STEM demonstrations for the last 8 years, and we feel that the next step is to bring virtual demos to the schools we can't be at in-person, and along with that, assemble a team of others in the STEM field who would like to virtually impact young students along with us.

I grew up in an underserved community where I didn't have the rolemodels I needed, so I use my Initiative to be that rolemodel for others.

What steps have you taken to understand the needs of the population you want to serve?

So far, I have done virtual demonstrations with multiple schools across the nation that didn't have the resources to bring in a special presenter and that I couldn't get to in-person. They have told me that it's been wonderful to be able to still have a special presenter but have it be affordable.

At Solve, I hope to learn more about how I can bring this idea more to life!

Which aspects of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Improving learning opportunities and outcomes for learners across their lifetimes, from early childhood on (Learning)

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Concept: An idea being explored for its feasibility to build a product, service, or business model based on that idea.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team located?

Wilmington, DE, USA

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

Jacqueline Means