Thank you - Catalyst was a huge success!
The 2021 VIRTUAL Catalyst Awards event on April 8th was a tremendous success — and it's all because of you! Thanks to your generous support, we had over 320 guests register for our virtual celebration and raised over $230,000. We are extremely grateful for the immense amount of support from our community— your community— so that girls and young women from all backgrounds have the tools and the support that they need to become the next generation of leaders in STEM.
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At Catalyst, we recognized changemakers within our community and beyond. We heard from several long-time members of our community including Tiye, a current college sophomore at Howard University and mentor who has been involved with Science Club since 4th grade. Angell, a current Junior Mentor and senior in high school who has been involved with Science Club since kindergarten, shared how participating in our programs since she was a young girl has influenced her path towards a career in STEM. Maria, Angell’s mom and a dedicated member of our community, discussed how Science Club has impacted her life through Angell. Additionally, we were inspired by the words of our trailblazing Catalyst Awardees: Beth Chandler, CEO of YW Boston, and Rana el Kaliouby, CEO and Co-Founder of Affectiva. We were empowered by the wisdom that they shared and are grateful for the work that they do to uplift women of all backgrounds in STEM.
Thank you to the generous sponsors of the 2021 Catalyst Awards for recognizing the importance of Science Club for Girls’ work in creating a more diverse STEM ecosystem: Comcast, Latham & Watkins, Foundation Medicine, Dell Technologies, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Hologic, Verizon, Exceedance, Sanofi Genzyme, Pfizer, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, H3 Biomedicine, Proskauer, Softworld, Takeda, TCR2 Therapeutics, Workhuman, New England BioLabs, Pegasystems, Roux Associates, and Simply Business.
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VIRTUAL Science Clubs wraps up!
Last Saturday, April 17th, we wrapped up our final club for the spring semester. All 259 girls have learned so much about Planet Earth, from wind energy to everyone’s favorite, volcanoes! With a consistent 90% attendance rate this semester, it’s clear that clubs have been both enriching and exciting. Not only have our young scientists been engaged, but our wonderful mentors have also embraced the past eight weeks of virtually exploring the wonders of our planet. One mentor shared, “Each week, I really looked forward to seeing and catching up with the girls. This is the same group that I had last semester for the engineering program, and we all really got to know each other and become comfortable with each other. Their enthusiasm each week was so inspiring.”
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In the final week, the girls were excited to share their favorite activities from the Spring Clubs’ Planet Earth curriculum with their peers, mentors, and families. This gave our young scientists the chance to practice their Zoom conference presentation skills, as well as give analytical feedback to each other. Many of the girls had a tough time deciding which activity was their favorite and spoke about multiple topics. One scientist asked, “Can we do this in the summer too? I don’t want it to be over!”. With another successful virtual semester over, we look forward to seeing all of our scientists return to clubs in the fall!
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Virtual Coding Club in session!
Science Club for Girls is excited to launch our April Break Coding Club going on this week! 17 middle school coders, all from backgrounds underrepresented in STEM, will learn the basic components of two coding languages, HTML and CSS, to ultimately create their very own website about a topic they are passionate about. We’re thrilled to provide girls with an encouraging and positive environment where they can combine their passions of academic and extracurricular subjects with computer science.
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Supporter Spotlight
This month we're excited to recognize one of our long time supporters, Sanofi Genzyme! For over 10 years, Sanofi Genzyme has demonstrated a strong, dedicated commitment to the mission of Science Club for Girls. As an organization, they have funded clubs as well as our mentor program, supported our virtual programming, and most recently, they sponsored both our 2020 and 2021 Virtual Catalyst Awards showcase events. Thank you Sanofi Genzyme for supporting girls and young women from all backgrounds so that they can see themselves in STEM in a space that is more diverse, equitable, and inclusive for everyone.
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Career Session: Environmental Engineering
Following the last session of our Spring 2021 clubs, SCFG had the honor of hosting a career panel with our friends at New England Women in Energy and Environment (NEWIEE) and the American Association of Blacks in Energy. The five empowering and inspiring women panelists gave us insight as to what career paths are available for individuals interested in energy conservation and the environment. The panelists included: Sarah Adams (Principal Planner with the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission), Ariana Espinal (MITES Program Administrator at Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Joyce Joseph (Site Acquisition Analyst at Blue Wave Solar), Amsa Mangga (Senior Distribution System Planning Engineer at Eversource), and Shalaya Morisette (Lead Process Manager at National Grid).
NEWIEE panelists encouraged our attendees to pursue what they are passionate about in spite of what other messages they may receive. “Play your strengths and prove them wrong,” was a consistent, yet powerful statement voiced throughout the panel. We appreciate and thank the panelists for their time and thoughtful advice.
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We may not be together—but we can still be social! Join us on: |
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About Science Club for Girls
SCFG fosters excitement, confidence and literacy in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics for girls from underrepresented communities by providing free, experiential programs. With women making up less than 24 percent of the STEM workforce—and Black and Hispanic women at less than four percent—SCFG addresses a critical need, offering a continuum of engaging activities in STEM for K-8 girls, leadership experiences for high school girls, and adult mentoring by committed women in STEM.
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