An energetic young educator, Shelly Waller began her teaching career at a diverse Title I school in Fredericksburg, Virginia where more than 60% of students come from economically disadvantaged households. Awarded “New…
Local nonprofit Learning Undefeated has partnered with the Department of Defense to create a mentor program for high school and college girls interested in STEM careers. Emerging Leaders in Biotechnology connects college and high school women to provide them with skills, knowledge, and support to pursue careers in biotechnology.
Over 200 students across three states — some as young as five years old! — participated in education recovery summer camps during summer 2021. Learning Undefeated’s disaster recovery education program emphasizes engaging, hands-on STEM learning experiences designed to help students re-engage with learning during a time when disaster-related stresses are incredibly real. The Young Science Explorers program reengaged students in learning and provided them with real-world STEM experiences.
In a typical school year, Maryland-based nonprofit Learning Undefeated serves over 50,000 K-12 students with immersive STEM learning onboard its fleet of mobile laboratories: tricked out trucks, shipping containers and busses that bring life-changing STEM experiences right to the school parking lot. But when the organization had to park its mobile labs due to COVID-19, Learning Undefeated quickly pivoted to developing hands-on digital experiences that would keep students and teachers connected with STEM subjects while learning at home.
“When high school women get to make that connection with college women, they get to see a little snippet of themselves in the future,” said Gabriella Centeno, a rising sophomore majoring in biology at Montgomery College, who is serving as a mentor in the Emerging Leaders in Biotechnology program. “That not only inspires them, but it also empowers them to do the best that they can, take as many opportunities as they want, and enjoy their full right of whatever their self-discovery is.