OUR MISSION

We aim to provide student-led educational mentorship programs for K-12 youth that fosters the development of STEM research & social entrepreneurship initiatives addressing community issues.

OUR DELIVERABLES

  • STEM-centered mentoring from 'big brother & sister' college students have the power to make a life-changing impact on K-12 students.

  • Collaborative student-led curriculum that engages by integrating socially relevant topics and prepares for success as critical STEM thinkers.

  • Addressing disparities in educational quality / access by partnering with and delivering programs to undeserved local community schools.

  • Providing intensive training, documentation, persistent refinement and modest funding per chapter to spark high-impact and novel educational programs.

 
 

K-12 students are often discouraged from pursuing science and engineering due to a lack of clear learning purpose and a lack of approachable role models to seek advice and bring content to life. Through an immersive outreach program, SENDforC is able to make scientific research approachable, fun, hands-on and relevant to many students, including those who may not have access to such opportunities.  These are provided at no cost to students or partnerships schools, thanks to the support of donors and supporters!

SENDforC establishes chapters at Universities across the nation and provides University mentors to work with local K-12 schools. In this mentorship program, K-12 students are challenged in an individualized learning environment throughout the two-year programs available to the partnership schools. We work with your community to create a program that best meets the needs and interest of your students. This is achieved by delivering “tracks” that are specialized programs created around subject areas. Below are examples of our curricula range of tracks:

UCSD: Hard Sciences track, Engineering track and Computer Science track

UC BERKELEY: Computer & Data Science track and Bioengeering, Health & Societies track.

Each track is developed with their own distinct educational philosophy and pedagogy, with multidisciplinary curricula that teaches the fundamentals of analytical research skills. Many other diverse potential tracks are defined and taught by our student chapters and research universities.

Based on their specific declared interests, K-12 students are paired with high-achieving, 'big brother and sister' role models via undergraduate students as mentors to facilitate development of their research and community projects.

These University Mentors are some of the most highly qualified individuals at their universities: they published everything from research papers to Amazon books, are honors students, student organization presidents, athletes, founded nonprofit and for-profit companies, won selective competitions and much more. They are practitioners of what they preach! Most mentor candidates are nominated or recruited on a one-by-one basis to assess their candidacy.

Our goals for our K-12 students include:

  • Educational equity and open-access: open to all students regardless of what is on their resumes or transcripts - partnership schools are selectively decided based on government data

  • Action-oriented learning: hands-on project techniques specific to each track are a significant part of each of our programs

  • Youth leadership: deploying community solutions and presenting ideas

  • Rigorous multidisciplinary education: relevant college and graduate level work are slowly presented and re-introduced

Through SENDforC, we have created a forward-driven outreach NPO platform which teaches students various applications of developmental engineering, physics, nanotechnology, computer science, biochemistry, biomedical sciences and several other subjects or 'Tracks' designed by our University Mentors and Educational Coordinators. SENDforC hosts a two year mentorship, independent research program, practicum, community co-op and entrepreneurial primer for each partnership K-12 site that pushes students to solve current, real-world issues, while also providing an opportunity for them to conduct long lasting community work and present their research in front of leaders in academia and industry. The initiative is a call to action to tackle meaningful community, social and global problems even for students at a young age.

Through 2 year education and training program offered to 30-40 students in addition to college advising, we hope to teach them advanced research skills and engage in addressing difficult community problems. We are expecting them to become successful and articulate youth innovators and as a program, are aiming for high acceptance rate into four-year universities.

Equity: The vast majority of the students involved in this program are anticipated to be the first in their families to attend college, were (or are) at risk of becoming homeless, come from a refugee background, and/or are in socioeconomic need or populations traditionally underrepresented in advanced science and engineering fields. This emphasis of inclusion serves an impactful way to uplift diverse communities and incubate a uniquely qualified source of future leaders.