Meet the 'New' Scientists Engineering Uganda's Future

Girls STEM encourages female students in Ukraine to consider fields in the sciences through mentorship from women in STEM professions, team hackathons, and interactive excursions. As of 2022, the initiative had more than 100 branches based at schools and universities with more than 10,000 girls participating.

The number of American teens who excel at advanced math has surged, as new programs cater directly to the uppermost echelon of math students, training them for international competitions.

Despite a deplorably small budget and an ominous lack of support from the government, the Union Public Schools district of Tulsa, Ok is achieving the incredible. Though many of the students are minorities and hail from low-income families, Union boasts exceptional graduation rates and a remarkable STEM-focused curriculum. Their success stems from a comprehensive focus on each individual child within the classroom and beyond, creating a hub for the greater community that includes resources like child care for teen mothers and a student-run garden.

TeqProject provides free training for Nigerian students interested in developing skills for the growing tech industry.

Yonkers Partners in Education is a nonprofit making college more accessible for low-income students of color through mentorship and tutoring.

The Webfala Digital Skills For All Initiative educates young entrepreneurs in digital literacy, social media, and marketing while encouraging young women to explore careers in STEM.

Code/Art trains art teachers in a curriculum that combines art and coding, with the goal of inspiring girls to code. They also offer weekly clubs for elementary and middle school girls, a Future Female Tech Leaders program for high schoolers, and an annual conference to celebrate the girls’ achievements. Teachers who take the training can satisfy continuing education requirements by learning four lessons: an abstract art generator and donut maker game, coding self-portraits using JavaScript, and 3-D modeling. Facilitators are assisted by college-age interns, who are available to help in the classroom.

Benito Juarez Community Academy in Chicago was once reputed for gang violence, struggled to support its predominantly minority students, and was had been on academic probation for nearly two decades. A revolutionary approach to academics that uses a skills-based model tailored to the needs of each individual student and emphasizes true mastery of a skill rather than memorization and regurgitation has had remarkable success, bringing Juarez up to among the top 50 schools in the state for graduation rates and test scores and making it a destination school for students of color.

Magnet schools in Alabama were created by the Board of Education as a way to combat white flight in the 1970's. Today, especially in Montgomery, magnet schools boast the smallest achievement gap between white and black students. Their success is attributed to a number of things, including a standardized admissions lottery that ensures diversity and a high degree of interest and participation from parents.

In a Buffalo school district where many students from low-income families struggled with trauma, attendance, and the effects of poverty, a nonprofit initiative called Say Yes to Education is implementing drastic change. The program increases graduation rates for minority students, grants scholarships and admissions guidance to colleges, provides medical and mental health care to under-served students, brings in mentors and after-school programs, and even assists students parents with job-readiness workshops and housing assistance.