World We Imagine - The Curiosity Exchange
The Curiosity Exchange
Our mission is to enrich the STEM education options for young women and gender minorities by breaking down the cost and social barriers to engaging in STEM. We will achieve this by hosting free STEM focused workshops and classes for local students after school and during school breaks. These classes will be taught by passionate volunteers with experience in STEM, ranging from adult professionals to college/highschool students. By doing this, The Curiosity Exchange will help build a community of STEM minded individuals who want to give back to the community and empower the next generation of girls and gender minorities.
I am passionate about this topic for a number of reasons. To start, from a young age, I was fortunate to have parents that valued getting a well rounded and robust STEM education as it teaches new ways to approach and solve problems. Because of this, I believe it is important to provide additional resources because most girls are not afforded the opportunity to learn and engage with STEM in a supportive environment outside of standard science and math classes in school. Even when girls are able to engage with STEM, they are often met with other social factors that deter them from pursuing a career in STEM. My experience working on a co-ed robotics team vs the robotics teams at my girls school have shown me just how important the learning environment can be for motivating individuals to pursue STEM. Lastly, I am inspired by my old robotics team which volunteered at the Mar Vista Family Center to host STEM classes for the students after school. It was there that I learned that many families did not see any reason to invest in their daughter’s STEM education as they believed they would not be interested or would not succeed in the field.
Something that makes The Curiosity Exchange unique is that it is focused on developing and providing free classes specifically tailored to the learning styles of girls and gender minorities. These lesson plans will cover a range of topics within STEM and will be curated to help attending students develop and test their skills through hands-on experience in a safe and encouraging environment. Additionally, the organization is guided by the idea that education is about the pursuit of Curiosity and a community Exchange as volunteers will help guide the next generation of young students who will hopefully join the STEM field in the future and become a role model for the generations after them as well. These aspects of the organization make it an ideal investment for AMDP which seeks to be more socially responsible (outlined in the people aspect of the triple bottom line) and uphold corporate social responsibility as investing in the Curiosity Exchange will help contribute to the company’s positive impact through its philanthropic activities as their investment would benefit various communities and potentially the families of AMDP’s employees and customers.
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