Envision the Future is a one-week residential summer STEM program for girls ages 11-13.  It’s designed to foster interest in STEM fields — and to serve as a model of effective practices for doing so, through replication of its activities in supporting communities the following year.  The program includes challenging STEM activities, career exploration with STEM professionals, meeting women role models, and connecting with other girls with similar interests.

Envision the Future will take place with a total of 48 participants at Bridgewater State University, July 20-24, under the auspices of the Southeastern Massachusetts STEM Network.  Participation is by invitation.  Newton has been invited to create a network of local STEM-interested organizations to:

• Send three middle-school girls as participants in the program and then
• Replicate one or more of the program’s STEM-promoting practices in Newton next year.

The middle-school girls who will participate as Newton’s ambassadors to the program will be responsible for helping to spread the word next year — through presentations, articles, etc. — about what they learn from the program.

NewtonSTEM has recruited an initial group of three local organizations to support this initiative:  The John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club of Newton will fund scholarships to cover 90% of the cost for all three participants and will lead a replication event — such as a STEM career awareness night — next year.  The Newton Free Library and Newton Community Education will also support and promote replication activities next year.  Each of these organizations is planning to augment its STEM programming in the coming year and welcomes the opportunity to join this initiative.

The Boys & Girls Club invites middle-school girls who would like to represent Newton in this program to apply online by 9AM on April 6 and also to have a parent/guardian sign and submit the Parent/Guardian Approval Form (PDF) by that deadline.  Finalists will be invited for interviews in April, and participants will be selected by May 8.  The cost paid by each selected participant’s family is $50 (after a $500 scholarship award paid by the Boys & Girls Club).  The selected participants must meet the following requirements:

• Participant is a girl residing in Newton who will be 11 to 13 years old as of July 20, 2015.
• Parent/guardian has signed and submitted the Parent/Guardian Approval Form and  has paid a non-refundable $50 fee by May 22, 2015.
• Participant’s family is a member of Newton Boys & Girls Club as of May 22, 2015.  (Club membership fee is $125 per family per year.  Join online.  Financial assistance is available for any selected participant for whom this would be a hardship.)

For further information, contact Dawn Proia (dproia@newtonbgc.com) or Bruce Henderson (info@newtonstem.org).