Minuteman High School and Partnerships for a Skilled Workforce Inc. are joining forces to expand opportunities for young high school women seeking careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). With the help of a $14,500 competitive state grant, Partnerships for a Skilled Workforce will assist in funding a series of activities for Minuteman’s award-winning Girls in STEM program.
Among other things, the grant will help Minuteman operate a Girls in STEM Vacation Camp, enable students to visit and explore a host of STEM employers and laboratories, and launch the creation of a STEM library of books and audiovisual materials related to STEM fields.
“This gives a big boost to the Minuteman Girls in STEM program,” Michelle Roche, director of career and technical education at Minuteman, said in a news release. “We’re grateful to Partnerships for a Skilled Workforce and look forward to this new collaboration.”
Kelley French, director of youth programs at Partnerships, said in the release: “We have a strong history of promoting STEM in the Marlborough Public Schools,” said “This new collaboration allows us to make more of an impact throughout our region.”
Three years ago, Partnerships for a Skilled Workforce won a sizable federal grant to partner with Marlborough High School to create an in-depth STEM curriculum. For more information on the program, click here >>
For two consecutive years, Minuteman’s Girls in STEM program has received national awards from SkillsUSA, an organization that runs skill and leadership competitions for students in career and technical high schools across the nation.
Girls in STEM was launched several years ago at the urging of Superintendent Dr. Edward Bouquillon, who recognized the need to increase the number of young women in STEM-related career training programs. Since that time, Minuteman’s Girls in STEM has run after-school programs, field trips and vacation camps and actively promoted STEM programs to dozens of female high school and middle school students in the region.
Under the Girls in STEM model, female adults working in STEM fields serve as mentors for Minuteman High School students interested in pursuing STEM careers. In turn, the female Minuteman students serve as mentors for female middle school students interested in exploring STEM careers.
Until now, the program has operated without any financial support from the state, using unspent local funds if they were available. The new source of funding comes from a Connecting Activities STEM Career Vocational Technical Education Grant from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Partnerships for a Skilled Workforce is the regional workforce board covering 43 cities and towns. Those include most of the member communities in Minuteman’s 16-town district.
Minuteman recently secured state and local funding to build a new $144.9 million school, including 16 career and technical programs in two career academies. Groundbreaking is expected to occur this spring, with the new school being open to students in the fall of 2019.
This news announcement was published Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017.
