STEM program in The Bronx, NY...

Reflecting on lessons from last summer's #STEM program in The Bronx, NY...

With 13 amazing staff, Fascinate, Inc. was able to coordinate a #STEAM workforce development program for over 150 high-schoolers in partnership with Children's Aid.

This amazing opportunity reminded me why our #deficit approach to students of color in #STEM is toxic:

When #students constantly hear themselves described as #underprivileged, #underrepresented and #underserved, they begin to internalize negative self-images.

Much of our initial time was spent unlearning these perceptions, so that students could recognize their #power and privilege.

Through this process, they realized our team ACTUALLY cared, and were more than willing to engage with our cool stem projects, like building "skyscrapers", blowing up household objects and #hacking into #computer games!

Once a month since then, we'll run into a student in NY who thanks us for opening their mind to what's possible in STEM. Can't wait to see their futures!

Super excited to take this project to the next level!

#lessons #children #ny #program #projects #speaker #conferencespeaker #keynotespeaker

For more details, please visit justinshaifer.com.

#STEM #AI #KeynoteSpeaker #Education