Creating the Country’s Only Disaster Recovery STEM Education Delivery Program

Since 2017, Learning Undefeated has been operating the country’s first and only STEM-focused education recovery program. We’ve served tens of thousands of students in communities impacted by hurricanes, flooding, earthquakes, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moved by a story on the evening news about the devastation to schools and communities caused by Hurricane Harvey in August 2017, Learning Undefeated raised corporate funds to send one of its mobile labs to the disaster-impacted area. What began as an emotional response to a natural disaster has grown into a robust education program serving more than 57,000 K-12 students across the Texas gulf coast over four years. Our mobile laboratories have also been deployed in Louisiana, and Puerto Rico.

In addition, our learning acceleration programs have benefitted hundreds of students across the country with summer camps designed to re-engage students with school.

Reengaging Kids in Disaster Areas with Learning

The impact on students, schools, and teachers following a natural disaster extends far beyond the initial event and can require years of community recovery. 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.

Creating a sense of normalcy and helping alleviate students’ toxic stress post-disaster is critical to help communities return to normal.

Contact Alejandro Cardemil for more information about bringing a Learning Undefeated mobile lab to your community.

Our fully self-sufficient mobile laboratories provide valuable learning space along with curriculum, supplies, and hope for students who are struggling to get through each day.

The program includes:

  • Full self-contained STEM education mobile unit – fuel, water, etc., etc.
  • Trained staff to support school-based staff and local community leaders
  • Authentic, hands-on laboratory learning experiences
  • Engaging subject matter tied to real-world careers
  • Near-peer mentorship model, providing STEM role models from within the students’ communities
  • Emergency power and charging stations

Building the First Disaster Response STEM Education Program

Moved by a story on the evening news about the devastation to schools and communities caused by Hurricane Harvey in August 2017, Learning Undefeated raised corporate funds to send one of its mobile labs to the disaster-impacted area.

Heartbroken by the hurricane damage in Houston and along the gulf bend region of Texas, Learning Undefeated’s staff raised just a small amount of funding to send the mobile laboratory to southeast Texas in November 2017. In just two weeks, Learning Undefeated’s team saw every K-12 student in the 400-student district during a 4-day visit to Port Aransas (outside of Corpus Christi). The following week, the lab served two Houston schools including a magnet school that draws students from more than 100 schools across the city, many of which were devastated during the Hurricane.

With the country’s first STEM-focused education recovery program, Learning Undefeated has served 40+ distinct communities along Hurricane Harvey’s path, from Corpus Christi along the gulf bend and East to the Louisiana border. Two new shipping container labs have been built as a legacy program for some of the hardest-hit areas of the state, helping students and teachers re-engage with STEM education even in locations where schools are not yet open.

Read Our white Paper on Why Disaster Recovery Education Matters

More of Our Work in Disaster Recovery

Hands-On STEM Summer Camps Reengage Students in Learning following Challenging School Year
  • Disaster Recovery
  • Elementary School
  • Louisiana
  • Maryland Teachers & Schools
  • Middle School
  • Mobile Labs
  • Summer Camp
  • Texas

    • Hands-On STEM Summer Camps Reengage Students in Learning following Challenging School Year

    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.

    Aug 19, 2021

    Learning Undefeated Expands Mobile STEM Lab Program Outside Continental U.S. to Support Puerto Rican Schools Damaged by Recent Earthquakes
  • Disaster Recovery
  • News
  • News Media

    • Learning Undefeated Expands Mobile STEM Lab Program Outside Continental U.S. to Support Puerto Rican Schools Damaged by Recent Earthquakes

    For the first time, Learning Undefeated is sending a mobile STEM lab outside of the United States. Working in partnership with the Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Trust, Learning Undefeated’s MdBioLab departs Maryland today to travel over land and sea to southwestern Puerto Rico, where it will serve more than 6,000 students in communities that were damaged by earthquakes earlier this year.

    Mar 11, 2020

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