Illuminate S.T.E.M.

We inspire and prepare students to compete and succeed in high paying careers related to Science, Engineering, Technology, and Math through career exploration, entrepreneurial endeavors and even global competition. We connect students to the skills and insight they need to leverage STEM careers to build their best lives.

Illuminate STEM's vision is to match the needs of people to the needs of employers. Our strategy is to move into dense pockets of poverty and grow talent from the inside. By investing heavily in specific areas we hope to not only rebuild communities, but also help fill the needs of employers so they can remain where they are.

While there is a current large scale focus on STEM education, the need for insight to the career paths of current STEM professionals has long been critical. We leverage our relationships to find mentors who are active leaders in the field to make Illuminate STEM an intersection of hard technological expertise and the social, emotional skills necessary for success.

Illuminate STEM gives students a running start on their path toward a STEM career, but our goal is to see them through to the finish line. Each year, Illuminate STEM equips more than 2,000 late elementary, middle, and high school students from under-represented communities, to compete and succeed in STEM fields at the college level and beyond. - 80% of participants say they now want to major in, or are interested in STEM related career fields. - 50% of participants say they are now considering a major or minor in a STEM field. - 90% will be able to program a robot at age appropriate benchmarks. - 90% of students will register in a STEM, ideally robotics program on their home campus. 

Our Needs

Illuminate S.T.E.M. (Sustaining Talent and Elevating Minds) is seeking to expand its outreach program reach from 2,000 to 5,000 underrepresented youth by the end of 2022. We have been awarded office space however to effectively scale up and reach program participation goals, we need funding for two staff positions (one full-time and one part-time contractor), 50 program laptops, general operating and program supply costs. By meeting these needs Illuminate S.T.E.M. can develop the capacity and infrastructure to manage multiple program sites throughout the academic school year, including Saturdays and summer camps. Additional funding affords the organization with expert management of multiple sites requiring additional structures and procedures to ensure that our programs are effectively and efficiently managed across the larger system.

Your support of diverse students from low-to-moderate income families, grades K through 12, who have minimal exposure to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education allows them to be introduced to curriculum and activities that encourage, empower and enable curious students to innovate the technical future of tomorrow. Illuminate S.T.E.M's curriculum was developed by a team of executives and professionals representing decades of real-life experience in their respective STEM fields, ranging from accounting, computer programming, robotics engineering, Information Technology, manufacturing, and telecommunications. By partnering with schools like DISD, FWISD, KIPP DFW, St. Phillip's School, Parish Episcopal School and Uplift Education, corporations such as AT&T, GE and RoboKind, and reputable organizations like the National Society of Black Engineers, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Society of Women Engineers, Illuminate S.T.E.M. can successfully reach a thousand youth. Youth dependent on organizations like ours who will introduce them to ideas, careers, games and learning they otherwise wouldn't have access to.