The Seeding Your Future Initiative: STEM outreach for grades 5-12.

Abstract

The Seeding Your Future Initiative started in Fall 2014 with the goal of providing STEM outreach in theEastern Panhandle of WV and the surrounding tri-state area. The Initiative began with the Seeding Your Future Conference, which will be in its third year next October. This conference targets middle school age girls, with the goal of the girls gaining or maintaining an appreciation for STEM fields and their abilities within them. The conference features a plenary by a woman in STEM, a speed-dating style panel, and a series of ~1hr hands-on STEM workshops. In September 2015, the Seeding Your Future Workshop Series began for high school students. Workshop Series events are held monthly during the academic year and feature a two-hour hands-on STEM activity. This talk will include details of the Seeding Your Future Initiative, discuss the novel aspects of it, and showcase data from the past few years highlighting the program’s successes. All program activities are free of charge thanks to generous funding from Women Investing in Shepherd (WISH), NASA West Virginia Space Grant Consortium, Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation, American Association of University Women (AAUW), and Shepherd University.