AWARD YEAR: 2024

NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS FOUNDATION

DIRECTOR: JAMIE LATHAN

PROJECT TITLE: STEP UP TO STEM - A CATALYST FOR THE FUTURE OF STEM EDUCATION IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA

The NC School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM), part of the University of North Carolina system, provides rigorous, high-quality education through residential, online, and summer programs. In 2013, the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund Student STEM Enrichment Program (BWF SSEP), alongside the North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation, Bayer CropScience, and Duke Energy Foundation, funded the Step Up To STEM (SUTS) program at NCSSM. This initiative offers a weeklong residential STEM enrichment for rising ninth graders. Additional support from Cisco, Anonymous Trust, and NCSSM alumni has enabled SUTS, in the past eleven years, to serve over 600 students and expand to Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) in 2022. In 2024, with BWF SSEP support, through this project, NCSSM aims to sustain SUTS at ECSU, increase SUTS student enrollment in honors-level STEM courses through the NCSSM Connect program, offer year-round STEM enrichments, and provide STEM career guidance in collaboration with UNC-Chapel Hill and Horizon Research. This project targets students from eastern North Carolina counties only. Students from other counties can apply to SUTS at the NCSSM-Durham campus. Over the three-year grant period, NCSSM will support six cohorts of students (one of rising freshmen and one of rising sophomores each year), recruit them for NCSSM Connect distance education courses, and engage them in virtual and in-person enrichment sessions focused on study skills, career exploration, test preparation, and college readiness. As a result of this project, SUTS students in Eastern NC will improve their perceived and actual competence in science and math, demonstrate increased enthusiasm for STEM and STEM careers, and increase their awareness of various STEM learning pathways.

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