In the News

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Reimagining SMASH

For over 20 years at SMASH, our goal has remained the same – to ensure that every student, regardless of the zip code they grew up in, has the opportunity to participate and thrive in the global economy. We have prepared thousands of scholars and alumni to flourish in STEM education, careers, and have dramatically grown our reach and impact over the last two decades. 

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Creating ‘intentional pipeline’: Raytheon supporting STEM program for students of color to help diversify workforce

Two organizations have joined forces with one shared goal in mind: building an “intentional pipeline” to get more students of color into tech. For the next five years, Raytheon Technologies, which specializes in aerospace and defense, will contribute nearly $8 million to support scholarships, internships and mentoring for high school students of color participating in the Kapor Center’s SMASH (Summer Math and Science Honor Academy) program. Learn More

STEM Learning a ‘SMASH’ at UC Davis

“Before SMASH, I wasn’t really focused on issues going on right now, but Dr. Bronner’s class brought me the awareness of sustainability: social, economic and environmental,” said class member Elisama. “I enjoyed finding solutions to problems going on in my own community.” More here.

SMASH STEM Program launched in Illinois

SMASH, the signature STEM education program of the Kapor Center, announces SMASH Illinois, its first statewide initiative program partnership with Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Southern Illinois University (SIUC) Carbondale, and the Creating Pathways and Access for Student Success (CPASS) Foundation. More here.

Wake Up With WURD – LaToya Tufts

LaToya Tufts is the SMASH Wharton Site Director. She joins Wake Up With WURD to talk about the partnership that SMASH has with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and to talk about the application process. The program works to provide rigorous science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programming to students of color in the greater Philadelphia metro area. Listen here.

Houston conference empowers women of color in STEM fields

Late’jah Whittaker has always loved science. She started making robots in the fourth grade. In the fifth grade, she attended her first computer science-based program, learning how to program and make games. In high school, she excitedly registered for an Advanced Placement computer science course. But when she walked into class for the first time, she was shocked. More here.

Upworthy: This program has a brilliant plan for bringing diversity to the world of STEM

When Dr. Jennifer R. Cohen was working as a molecular biologist, she often wondered why no one else in her sector looked like her.

As a black woman, Cohen is not the typical face you’d see in a biochemistry lab. The sad reality is science and technology careers are still predominately assumed by white men even though there is a large reservoir of untapped talent among women and people of color. More here.

Univision: UTEC visita SMASH Stanford

 

Univision stopped by SMASH at Stanford this summer to interview and highlight some of our scholars and the program in the South Bay.

A first for our SMASH program, this segment was produced in Spanish! You’ll see 4 of our SMASH Stanford scholars and our SMASH Program Director, William Cardenas, featured in this video clip. Watch here.

Los Angeles Wave: UCLA summer program is a SMASHing success

Students from high schools throughout Los Angeles were applauded by family members and teachers during UCLA’s SMASH Graduation and Recognition Ceremony July 29. In one STEM class this year, students merged their learning of computer science with research about contagious diseases. More here.

 

New Resource Bank | Blog: Meet the Organization Addressing Inclusion One Student at a Time

 

Ninth graders who apply for the Level Playing Field Institute’s SMASH Academy – an intensive summer program to teach science and math skills to underrepresented students of color – go through a rigorous process similar to a college application. They write an essay, get interviewed, submit references, and take a math test; only 20% are admitted. But for those who make it, the experience is transformative, according to LPFI CEO Eli Kennedy. “We look for students with a deep interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) but who have not recognized their potential,” Kennedy says. “We want to change their trajectory so they go onto college.” More here.

SF Chronicle: Teaching tech helps bridge the digital divide

Major tech companies have blamed the lack of diversity in their workforce on a “pipeline problem,” meaning a lack of available talent. To address the vacuum, an increasing number of nonprofit programs are focused on expanding the representation of minorities in the tech sector.

These nonprofits are picking up the slack in an area where California public schools have lacked either the resources or the foresight to prepare students for this vibrant sector. More here.

Los Angeles Sentinel: UCLA SMASH Program Preparing Students for Tech America

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“The consistent thing we hear from the Facebooks and Googles of the world is that they are not able to identify young talented people of color,” explained Eli Kennedy CEO of the Level Playing Field Institute, the organization that heads up the Summer Math and Science Honors program at UCLA.

“At the same time, we’re seeing job growth in America being driven by the tech sector.”

Low income students of color need the SMASH program to be able to compete, he said.

That is why, according to program officials, SMASH is free of charge.

Read more here in the Los Angeles Sentinel.

Atlanta Black Star: Morehouse Launches Successful Summer STEM Program that Puts Atlanta-Area Teens On Path to New Careers

Social justice and science in the summertime, SMASH (Summer Math and Science Honors) Program at Morehouse College, Atlanta, Ga. 7/10/17 Photo by Mikki K. Harris

 

When 28 high school-age boys signed up to participate in the first year of a STEM program at Morehouse College, they could never have predicted the bond that would develop among them.

STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers are predicted to continue to grow according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economics and Statistics Administration, but nonwhite young men ― especially Black ones ― are some of the least represented.

Read more here from in the Atlanta Black Star.

 

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Metro Atlanta students learning STEM to help themselves and others

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About two dozen metro Atlanta public school students are spending much of their summer vacation on a college campus learning skills their instructors and organizers believe will help them improve academically and help others.

The students are the first local participants in a five-week science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) camp at Morehouse College that includes a social justice component. Organizers said the camp’s goal is to get the students, all rising tenth-graders, to begin thinking about solutions to problems impacting under-served communities.

Read more here in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Color of STEM: Jennifer R. Cohen, Ph.D | SMASH Berkeley Site Director

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About two dozen metro Atlanta public school students are spending much of their summer vacation on a college campus learning skills their instructors and organizers believe will help them improve academically and help others.

The students are the first local participants in a five-week science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) camp at Morehouse College that includes a social justice component. Organizers said the camp’s goal is to get the students, all rising tenth-graders, to begin thinking about solutions to problems impacting under-served communities.

Read more here in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Black Enterprise: #BlackSTEMLikeMe Takes Over the Impact Hub

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In an evening full of total engagement, immersed in the likes of entrepreneurs, astronauts, National Society of Black Engineers’ leaders and students, the #BlackSTEMLikeMe hashtag rang loud and clear.

We were met with stories of trials and triumphs, but they didn’t end on the stage. A clip was shown, we heard from speakers, and then the attention was turned to the audience. It was our turn. Topics surfaced like: explain a time when you were the “Hidden Figure” to give an example of when you had to take an active leadership position and make some less than desirable decisions.

Talk about vulnerability. Read more here in Black Enterprise.

East Bay Times: ‘Hidden Figures’: Can film inspire more young black women to embrace science, tech?

Danielle Rose, of Level Playing Field Institute, left, and Toni Vanwinkle, of Adobe, speak during a panel discussion hosted by the National Society of Black Engineers at Impact Hub in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017. Hidden Figures cast member Karan Kendrick among other was one of the panelists who spoke, too. The film is based on the story of three African-American women working at NASA in the early 1960s. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

Danielle Rose, of Level Playing Field Institute, left, and Toni Vanwinkle, of Adobe, speak during a panel discussion hosted by the National Society of Black Engineers at Impact Hub in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017. Hidden Figures cast member Karan Kendrick among other was one of the panelists who spoke, too. The film is based on the story of three African-American women working at NASA in the early 1960s. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

The movie tells the story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, African-American women working at NASA who served as some of the brains behind John Glenn’s historic orbit of Earth in 1962.

And similar film screenings and forums are being held throughout the country, with high hopes that the film will galvanize interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics — also known as STEM — in minority girls and boys….

Jennifer R. Cohen, site director of SMASH Berkeley, which is a free Summer Math and Science Honors Academy at UC Berkeley offered to underrepresented high school students of color, said her nonprofit has also been hosting screenings of the film, and it’s been inspiring to see young people’s response.

“They were saying we didn’t even know this was a part of history and part of space exploration. This has been a story of national pride, for many black women,” she said.

Read more here in the East Bay Times.

KBLX 102.9FM: KBLX Cares with Sterling James

LPFI Communications Manager/SMASH Alum, Ashleigh Richelle and Site Director of SMASH Stanford, Gabriel Chaparro came to our studios to discuss the SMASH program offered to underrepresented High School students as a free college preparatory STEM-Intensive Summer Math And Science Honors Academy program. Listen or visit here.

Bay Area Parent: How to Get Your Kids Excited About STEM

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Dr. Jennifer R. Cohen and Eli Kennedy work at the Level Playing Field Institute (new.lpfi.org), a nonprofit that provides free educational programs and resources to support underrepresented minority students in the Bay Area and help them pursue STEM careers.

“When I was in elementary school (Lakeshore Elementary School in San Francisco), my mother would tell me all the time that I will make a great scientist,” Cohen says. “My mother was a stay-at-home mom at the time, and although we didn’t know any scientists, I believed her when she told me I could and would be a great scientist.”

Read more here in Bay Area Parent about how parents can encourage their children to get into STEM.

San Jose Mercury: Opinion | Federal aid needed for teaching coding, science in schools

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Computer occupations are not only some of the fastest growing in California and the nation, but also among the highest paying. Yet, by 2022, the nation is projected to have 1.3 million unfilled jobs in these fields, many of which will be located in our state.

In large part, this shortfall is  a consequence of the lack of access and disparities in access to computer science education in California. According to the Level Playing Field Institute, 65 percent of California public high schools offered no computer science courses in 2015; only 13 percent offered AP Computer Science.

Read more here at The San Jose Mercury.