SECME, Inc - Diversity in STEM Education

December 1st, 2020 is #GivingTuesday
Please Help SECME Respond to COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has had immeasurable impact on each of our lives. Perhaps the most severely impacted are our young people. While SECME's mission has not changed, our work today focuses on supporting educators to facilitate STEM learning for our most underserved communities in a new virtual environment. The challenges faced by the students and educators we support have been magnified by this crisis. In addition, SECME's financial stability has been impacted as we were forced to cancel our annual conference, which provides much of our operating support. 

In response to the pandemic, SECME has launched a Virtual STEM Institute, where teachers can access training to help them make STEM come alive virtually for students. In addition, SECME has provided virtual options for our STEM competitions for students. We will continue to introduce the more than 7,000 students we serve to STEM majors and college-readiness programs; and offer scholarships for participating high school seniors.

 Each year SECME works with more than 7,000 students in 11 states, D.C. and the Bahamas. Seventy eight percent (78%) of our participating students are minority, forty two percent (42%) are female and fifty seven percent (57%) are first generation college-goers. Eighty eight percent (88%) are eligible for free or reduced lunch. These students often don’t have the funds or the mentors to facilitate their participation in the types of K-12 activities which would prepare them for college and careers in STEM. SECME provides these opportunities, along with college campus experiences, scholarships and STEM materials & supplies at little or no cost to students.

We hope you'll consider supporting SECME this year. And if your employer offers grants or contribution matches for which we can apply, we welcome your inquiry at secme@coe.gatech.edu or (404) 894-3325.