In honor of Volunteer Appreciation Week we are proud to uplift the work of our Explore STEM Philly volunteers. Explore STEM Philly, a signature program of Philadelphia Education Fund, is a STEM speakers bureau through which teachers are able to secure and schedule STEM career professionals for their classrooms. We’ve been working hard to transition this program from in-person to virtual, and are pleased to share we just completed our first round of distance-learning presentations. Now more than ever our students need hope, inspiration, and examples of what the future might hold for them if they stick with school and make a post-secondary plan.
Our volunteers exposed students to careers as civil and structural bridge and road engineers, pharmaceutical project managers, quality assurance professionals, chemical engineers, and more! They joined us from:
- GSK
- Saint-Gobain
- TranSystems
- FlexPro Group
- Pennsylvania Society for Biomedical Research
These volunteers worked hard to adapt their presentations to fit the virtual classroom, and their hard work paid off. In thirteen classroom presentations at Olney Charter High School, Furness High School, and Kensington Creative and Performing Arts High School our volunteers provided engaging career exposure to over 165 students.
And, with the announcement of the PAsmart Advancing Grant, we will be expanding the reach of Explore STEM Philly even further. Thank you to the teachers for inviting us into their classrooms, the students who showed up, asked questions and participated, and to our volunteers, for opening up the expansive world of STEM professions to our students!
