By Keriayn Smith | Chair, SoSA Board of Directors
Our Stem Talent Expansion through Promotion of Sciences (STEPS) program was birthed from the vision that young Jamaicans can transform their challenging environments and the world by embracing, pursuing and applying science. We are elated to report that this year’s STEPS science programs will not just continue, but will expand due to the generous support of all our donors – thank you!
Over the last three months we have been active in the organization of the science workshops for Primary and Secondary students. These will be held on November 20, 2014 on the campus of the University of the West Indies. STEPS is expanding by including more schools and students in this year’s workshops and adding exciting activities not only to engage Jamaican children in science, but empowering them to apply it. Our workshops this year will accommodate 200 students; this is a 100% increase over the capacity last year. Thanks to your generosity, we are also able to include schools not just from Kingston but also from St Catherine and St Ann.
We have also confirmed 43 scientists to participate in career days in 19 high schools – this will expand our reach into a number of schools in Jamaica. For these career days, we have also been preparing videos of ‘scientists in action’. These efforts will expose low-resourced students to the realm of career possibilities in the sciences.
Regarding our science lab construction project, we have received a proposal from a low-resource high school in Kingston with an established need for a science lab. Our committee chair and engineer have already conducted a site visit to explore feasibility.
As you can see, we are well on our way in establishing required partnerships and securing the participation of the relevant stakeholders for the successful and sustainable execution of our projects. Thank you for contributing to STEPS and we look forward to sharing highlights from our November workshop in the next report. We looked forward to your continued support, please continue to spread the word!
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