This summer, 50 middle school girls will have the chance to narrow the gender gap in the fields of tech, science and engineering.
STEM from Dance, a national program coming to Syracuse, taps into the artform as a tool to also teach coding.
Just as choreography requires memorization of timed movements, similar skills are needed for computer sciences. Girls enrolled will learn not only a dance routine but how to design costumes that control lights and other technological elements in their final performance.
The initiative comes from the newly formed Youth STEM Funder Collaborative, which focuses on supporting young females of color, a group historically underrepresented in STEM fields.
Qiana Williams, with the Central New York Communication Foundation, which helped coordinate the pilot, noted women of color make up only 5% of the STEM workforce.
“[Interest in science] can be compounded when you struggle with historic symptoms of historic exclusion, such as poverty, youth violence and the types of issues that our youth struggle with here in Syracuse," Williams said. "So something like this is a great enrichment experience that can help lift them up, help them build that confidence that they need, in order to feel like they can do anything.”
To prepare tomorrow’s workforce today, the new Youth STEM Funder Collaborative, comprised of @CNYCF, Micron Foundation, @UWCNY, @GiffordFdn and @AllynFoundation , will be working together to fund opportunities for STEM skill development in our region. https://t.co/ViMdRJ19wT
— Central New York Community Foundation (@CNYCF) May 17, 2023
The free, three-week camp launches in July at La Casita Cultural Center and the Community Folk Art Center. Each location will welcome 25 girls and be co-led by a dance and a science instructor.
“Each cohort has an opportunity to customize it according to their interests," Williams said. "So they take ownership on the curriculum, and decide what type of projects they want to go into. They could be learning circuitry, and how to put LED lights on costumes.”
The collaborative is contributing $120,000 for the program, open to middle school girls, living in the city of Syracuse. Fund partners include the Central New York Community Foundation, Micron Foundation, United Way of Central New York, Gifford Foundation and Allyn Foundation.
STEM in Dance will also be offered as a quarterly workshop this upcoming school year. Fifty girls can enroll for each of four offered Saturday immersion classes.
Editor‘s note: The Central New York Community Foundation is a supporter of WAER.
